Broken
by Pink Mockingjay in Hufflepuff
Summary: Mal had always been alone and she was used to it. She was used to doing everything by herself, including raising her daughter. She had a few friends, but even they couldn't really understand her. She was too difficult to figure out and not worth the trouble. When the king of Auradon comes to the Isle for a visit, he decides he's going to get her to open up. But it's not that easy.
1. Chapter 1

_**RATED T FOR DARK CONTENT, INCLUDING UNWANTED TEEN PREGNANCY AND MOTHERHOOD, DEPRESSION, SUICIDAL THOUGHTS, MENTIONS OF SELF-HARM, IMPLIED AND REFRENCED CHILD ABUSE, AND ILLNESS. MAL BASICALLY HAS PTSD AND IT'S NOT PRETTY.**_

 _ **This is probably the darkest thing I've ever written, proceed with caution.**_

 _ **This takes place on the Isle of the Lost and disregards everything about the book and movie except for characters and setting.**_

 _ **I'm moving this over from my AO3 account. It is cross-posted now. I hope you enjoy it.**_

* * *

A very out of place giggle echoed down the dark, cold halls of the decrepit castle.

It came from a tiny girl hiding under a pile of blankets.

A young woman stood beside the bed, arms crossed and the tiniest trace of a smile on her lips. "Where'd Melanie go?"

The girl tugged the blanket off her head. "Boo!"

"There she is!"

Melanie fell into a fit of loud, screechy, joyful giggles.

The response from the woman was a fond smile. She rested her hand on the child's mousy brown hair. "Easy, Melanie. Sh,"

The girl stopped giggling. "Sorry, Mama."

"It's okay, just stay quiet."

The girl nodded seriously.

"I think it's time for bed anyway."

"Okay." The little girl burrowed under the blankets and lay down on the pillow, looking up at her mother expectantly.

Her mother tucked the blanket around her and kissed her forehead.

"Mal!" a shout echoed down the hall. Mal leaned over and in a hushed tone, told Melanie to stay very still and quiet before pulling the blanket over her head. She straightened just as the door to her room was flung open.

"What was that despicable noise?"

"What noise?"

"It sounded like laughter... and not the evil kind."

Thank goodness her mother was rather oblivious and her daughter was rather small. "I don't know what you're talking about, Mother."

Maleficent eyed her daughter suspiciously. "You better not be lying to me, Mal."

"I would never lie to you, Mother."

"If you are, I will find out. And it won't be pretty. Is that understood?"

"Yes, Mother."

Maleficent turned in her heel, black robe swishing, and slammed the door behind her.

Mal waited until the footsteps were little kore than echoes before removing the blanket from her daughter's head.

The girl looked up at her, frightened.

"She's gone, Melanie." Mal promised quietly, smoothing her hair back with a gentle hand.

Mal had been lying to her mother for over five years. The lie had begun the day she had figured out she was pregnant. She had been only fourteen then.

Most people were afraid of her mother and didn't dare to approach Mal, but her lineage meant nothing to some people. She had always been small and some were more than happy to take advantage of that. And they had. It had scarred her in a way that was difficult to explain.

It may not have been all bad, though. She had been left with her Melanie because of it. Innocent, sweet Melanie. Someone to protect. A reason to fight.

Her mother hadn't cared enough to ask why she stopped going to school. Mal wasn't sure if she noticed that she had dropped out. She certainly hadn't noticed when she didn't come out of her room for two weeks and that a crying infant had suddenly appeared in her house. And she didn't notice when her fourteen year old daughter spent upwards of twelve hours in the worst pain of her life. Alone.

Melanie was almost five now and Maleficent had not seen her once. Maleficent didn't know she existed. Not that she would even care she existed, but Mal hid Melanie every time her mother came close. Just in case. Maleficent was crazy and Mal was not about to take any chances with her little girl.

Melanie was utterly terrified of Maleficent and Mal didn't blame her. Her mother was a terrifying person.

Melanie lay awake and shaking for half an hour before she succumbed to sleep. Mal sat up, just watching her.

Mal hadn't wanted Melanie. She had fully anticipated that as soon as the baby was born, she was going to drop it by the orphanage and never look back, but something deep inside of her had other ideas. She had taken one look at her newborn and instantly became attached. She couldn't give up her baby. It was small and vulnerable and needed her. And even though she was young and small and vulnerable too, she vowed to protect her.

Mal had never been gentle or tender in her whole life. She had been taught to be everything but those things. Compassion wasn't in her vocabulary. She shouldn't have been able to be kind to her child, but she was. Maternal instincts overpowered anything, at least for her. It was weird to go from only worrying about yourself and our own survival to suddenly being totally committed to a tiny human who could hardly open its eyes, but that was what had happened. She adored her little girl. Maybe not in the way Auradonians did, maybe not the 'right' way, but Mal would do anything for Melanie. She would do anything to keep her safe.

Melanie woke in a panic two hours after she had fallen asleep due to a nightmare.

When Mal was very small, even smaller that Melanie was, she had foolishly gone time and time again to her mother when she was frightened. She had eventually learned that doing that was a terrible idea. She would be belittle for her fears and told she was weak and sent back to bed without so much as a pat on the head. She would spend hours awake at night, afraid to close her eyes again. She told herself she was evil and shouldn't be afraid of anything, but she was still a child and children were easily frightened.

Mal sat up with her back against the headboard of the bed she shared with her little girl and pulled Melanie into her lap. Trembling, Melanie wrapped her arms around her mother's neck and snuggled against her.

This had happened often enough for Mal to know that it could be hours until the girl fell back to sleep, so she just stroked her hair and held her tight.

When the little girl closed her eyes once more, Mal put her back in bed and covered her up.

Melanie was scared of her grandmother, had constant nightmares, never had enough to eat, was always cold, and spent most of her life in hiding, yet she was happy. She didn't know any better, that was just how she was raised.

Mal frowned as she looked at her daughter's sleeping form. Melanie was the sole reason to continue to fight instead of giving up. That little girl was the only reason Mal was still alive. She might've had a better chance at life elsewhere, maybe even due to the orphanage. But Mal had been selfish and kept her.

It wasn't all her fault though, Mal had been raised evil. And wasn't part of being evil being selfish?


	2. Chapter 2

Melanie held tight to Mal's hand as they walked down the street together. The girl's stomach growled loudly as they walked and Mal frowned.

The poor thing had eaten hardly more than a piece of bread in three days. Rotten food wasn't much of a choice and it was said to make you tough, but most of it made Melanie very sick and Mal couldn't force her to eat something they both knew wouldn't stay down long enough to make any difference.

Mal herself hadn't eaten much either. Auradon had been stingy with their scraps for whatever reason the last week or so and she had a hard time finding anything even sort of edible. She'd gone longer without much food, though. She'd be fine. It was her daughter she was worried about. Melanie was tiny and quite clearly not as healthy as she should be. Mal did everything she could, but that wasn't always enough.

They both kept walking past the curious and wondering eyes and the muttering and the staring. Mal hardly ever went out with Melanie, but most people knew about her. No one dared to question the child's existence because they knew very well what Mal would do if they so much as looked at the girl the wrong way.

They walked straight to the little hidden hideaway Mal and her friends shared. It was a broken down house that was covered by vines and obscured by trees- it was small and hidden and perfect.

"There's the squirt," Jay said affectionately to Melanie when she and Mal walked in.

"Hi Jay," Melanie replied happily, letting go of her mother's hand and going to give him a hug. Jay hugged her back. Melanie was the first person ever to hug him regularly and he so very much appreciated it.

Mal smiled a bit. The fact that Melanie and Jay got along so well was nice. And a bit ironic in a sense. Both Mal and Melanie basically owed their lives to him. They'd both have been dead years ago had he not intervened.

* * *

Melanie was born very early on a Wednesday morning. Early meaning two a.m. Mal's memories for the next few days following Melanie's birth were little more than a surprising amount of blood, pain, blurry scenes and a newborn's whimpers and the vague recollection of holding the child close.

The birth had not been an easy one, not by any means. But since she had been by herself and was so young, it was even worse.

She was in no condition to move much for quite a while, but come the Tuesday after Melanie was born, she was too hungry to stay put.

It was quite literally freezing and Mal had nothing to put Melanie in for such cold temperatures and she needed both her hands free to gather things, so she decided to wait until Melanie was asleep, run out of the house to grab a few things, and come straight back.

Unfortunately, it wasn't that easy.

Melanie cooperated, but she slept all the time anyway. It was the climbing down all the stairs and walking around outside bit that was difficult. Everything hurt. She felt like she was going to throw up and her head was spinning. She could hardly stand. But she had to find something to eat.

She had managed to grab some food, however meager it was, and was slowly making her way back home when a familiar voice called to her.

"Mal!"

She had ignored Jay and continued her slow trek back to the relative comfort of her room and her tiny little girl.

She was surprised to find Melanie awake when she returned. She wasn't screaming or anything, she was just laying there wrapped in a thin blanket staring at the ceiling, but she turned her head towards the door when she heard her mother enter.

Mal had all but collapsed onto the bed beside the baby. The faintest ghost of a smile appeared on her face. Her baby girl was hers and hers alone. And that was kind of special. "Hello, little one."

"Mal!"

The shout had startled the half-fairy back off the bed and into a standing position. She had been shocked to see her old partner in crime standing on the balcony outside her room.

"You can't be here, Jay!" Mal had warned in a loud whisper, approaching the door. "Mother will kill us both if she sees you."

"She won't see me." he replied in his typical cocky way.

"Jay. Leave!" Her voice was sharp and biting, although she just wanted to lay down.

"No. Open up, I want to talk to you."

She opened the door a bit just to get him to quit yelling. "Why?"

He shoved his way into her room and she scowled, but he didn't see. "Because everyone's been wondering what happened to you. There's been a rumor going around saying your mom snapped and killed you and clearly that's a lie. I just want to know the truth."

She bit her lip nervously and he looked at her, baffled. Her eyes filled with tears and she turned away from him. She never cried, at least as far as others were concerned.

"Mal?" Jay's voice was surprisingly gentle.

"You want to know the truth?" she asked in a bitter tone, wiping her eyes.

"I do."

She had walked over to the bed, scooped Melanie up, and thrust the child into his arms in one swift motion. "That's the truth!"

The baby hardly reacted.

Jay looked down at the baby and then to Mal incredulously. "This is... your baby?"

Mal nodded, arms crossed, determined to keep her tears from spilling out any more.

"How?" his tone was still gentle. "You don't have a boyfriend or-"

"Why don't you ask those Juniors you hang out with sometime? I'm sure they'll be more than happy to tell you all about it." She spat. Just the very thought of them, of that night, made her even more nauseous than she already was. She felt like her legs were going to give out on her. She felt so disgusting and dirty when she though about it, so she tried not to, but they always came back to her.

Jay's expression had instantly hardened. He knew exactly who she was talking about. They always talked about girls in ways that worried him, but now they would pay for it. "I'll take care of them. You won't need to worry about them ever again once I talk to 'em."

Mal nodded. She suddenly turned quite greenish and Jay grew concerned. "You're sick."

"I'm not sick. I had a baby." she argued, taking Melanie from his arms. The baby snuggled contentedly against her. Mal swayed precariously enough to make her panic. She leaned against her bedpost.

"Something's wrong then. You look about ready to pass out."

"I'm fine,"

"When's the last time you ate something?"

"Um... Maybe Tuesday?" she replied weakly, rubbing her eyes tiredly.

"Last Tuesday?

She nodded a bit.

"What's your mother doing now?"

"Who cares?"

"Will she notice if you leave?"

She hadn't left her room in a week, clearly she didnt care enough to check on her. Mal shook her head and instantly regretted it. Her vision blurred and she squeezed her eyes shut.

"I'm taking you both to the nurse." Jay told her with a shake of his own head.

"Nurse?" What nurse? The Isle had no such thing.

"Yeah, Auradon sent a nurse over here for health stuff but no one cares. But you need to go see her and I'm going to take you there."

"Jay, I'll be okay."

"You're not okay. Fourteen year olds shouldn't have babies. Something's wrong besides that too. You need to be checked out."

Before Mal had time to argue any more, Jay had picked her up, Melanie and all, and headed out her bedroom door.

"Tell me how to get out of here." he demanded.

"I can-" she squirmed in his arms, trying to get down. She was fine, absolutely fine. She could prove it. And she also didn't want him touching her.

"Like hell am I letting you take the stairs holding that baby. You can't even stand! Tell me how to get out of here!"

Mal reluctantly directed him out of her house simply because she was in no mood to argue and he took it from there. He wound through the streets, braving the weather and giving dirty looks to anyone who dared to look at them funny, until he arrived at a rather decent looking building. He finally set her on her feet just inside the door.

A kind-looking blonde woman in her early twenties appeared before them, summoned by the sound of the closing door.

"Oh goodness," she muttered, taking one look at Mal. She came closer to them. Mal slunk back towards Jay, nervous about what this woman would do to her.

"It's okay, I won't hurt you." the woman said kindly, keeping her distance. "I'm Vivian, what's your name?"

"Mal," was the unsure reply. She shifted the newborn in her arms.

"It's very nice to meet you, Mal." Vivian said with a smile. She turned her attention to Jay. "And what about you?"

"I'm Jay," he replied. Vivan glance quickly at the baby in Mal's arms and he shook his head, understanding exactly what she wanted to know. "Just a... friend."

"Nice to meet you too, Jay. May I ask why the two of you are here?"

"Something's wrong with her." Jay nodded towards Mal. "She's, like, dizzy."

"I'm fine," Mal said again weakly, clearly not fine.

"Well, even so, it's best to check you out anyway. Would you come with me, Mal?"

Mal hugged Melanie closer to her and didn't move. Why should she go with some lady she'd only just seen for the first time? What she could possibly do to help?

Jay nudged her forward. "I'll be right here," he promised in a voice low enough she could've imagined it.

Mal took a few steps forward and Vivian smiled kindly before heading towards the back of the building. "Come on," Vivian urged.

Mal glanced back over her shoulder at Jay, who nodded, and followed the strange nurse to a tiny room.

* * *

 _ **This continues next chapter.**_

 _ **Please review!**_


	3. Chapter 3

_**This chapter is all about Vivian and it picks up where last chapter left off.**_

* * *

To say Vivan was an adventurous sort of girl was the understatement of the year. She loved exploring new places and people and things.

Being a nurse was sort of an adventure and she loved it back home, but when a new nurse position for the Isle of the Lost was introduced, she had immediately applied- one of only three that did. She just had to see what it was like there for herself. And now she was seeing it first hand. But it wasn't much of an adventure.

No one came to her. Isle residents dealt with injuries and illnesses themselves as not to look weak, so they saw no use for a nurse in any form. This left the young woman a lot of time to read, as there was hardly anything else to do over than watch the Auradon News Network and pretend she was back home. There was no cell service or Wi-Fi on the Isle. Any news had to be sent to and from her family the old-fashioned way.

She had been writing a letter back to her mother in fact, when she heard the door of the clinic open and shut for the first time ever. Curious, she left her seat and was shocked to see what she did- an ill-looking tiny purple haired girl shuddering from the cold and clutching a baby in her arms and a taller, handsome boy who simply radiated worry for the two smaller people beside him. Neither the girl or the boy could be older than sixteen, if they were even that old.

The girl clearly needed medical attention, just something about her didn't look right. And if that baby was hers, there were several things that could easily have gone wrong. She was much too young to have a child and something told Vivian she wasn't given any help at home.

And Mal, as she was introduced as, was a peculiar name, but so was the Isle as a whole.

Vivian thought the boy- Jay- might've been the baby's father and that was why he was so concerned about Mal, but she didn't want to come out and just ask him. Thankfully, he understood her glances and said he was just a friend. She wasn't sure if she believed him yet, but she didn't press the issue.

After some encouragement, Mal followed Vivian and Jay stayed where he was.

Vivian directed Mal towards on of three hospital beds in the clinic and retreated to the closet to find some blankets. When she returned, she offered one to Mal and the girl instantly wrapped the baby in it instead of keeping it for herself.

"Who's this little sweetheart?" Vivian asked of the baby.

"Melanie," Mal replied quietly and looking away, holding her daughter tight to her chest. Vivian wondered if Mal thought she was going to take the baby away.

"She's very pretty." Vivian said gently. "Is she yours?"

The girl nodded, eyes focused only on her baby.

"How old is she?"

"She was born last Wednesday." Just a tiny bit of a thing thing, a newborn. A child born to a child herself. The universe was cruel sometimes.

"How old are you, Mal?"

Her voice was soft and almost distant in a way, and she never once looked up. "Fourteen,"

Fourteen. Just a little girl.

Vivian's stomach turned to ice. That's what she was afraid of. She was so young and clearly something awful must have happened. But she shoved her negative feelings aside and focused on the task at hand.

"Your friend Jay said you were dizzy, is that true?"

"Kind of,"

"Anything else?"

Mal stayed pensively silent and the baby in her arms did too.

"You can tell me," Vivian said reassuringly. "I'm here to help you."

It took a moment, but Mal spoke, albeit softly. "I kind of feel like I'm going to throw up?"

"Well that isn't a good feeling, is it? But we can fix that. Anything else?"

Mal told her no, but if she had just given birth a week ago, she would definitely still be in some sort of pain. She was going to give her a pain pill anyway.

"I believe you are probably pretty severely dehydrated, Mal. I'm glad Jay brought you here because that's pretty serious."

"Wh-what does that mean?" the girl asked shyly, finally meeting Vivian's eyes.

"It means you haven't been drinking as much as you should be. Your body needs water to function properly and when it doesn't have enough, you often get dizzy and nauseous. And your tongue turns whitish." And if they were on Auradon, she'd hook Mal up to an IV, give her some juice and call it a day, but that certainly wasn't going to happen. Especially since she didn't have an IV to use.

"Is that it?"

"Well, yes. It's an easy fix, but it can be a serious problem. And I have some medicine you can take that will make you feel less dizzy and get you something to drink in a minute. I'd like to take a look at Melanie first if that's alright?" She wanted to give Mal a check-up too, but doubted she could. Mal was already visibly uncomfortable. From what Vivian had learned, Mal's posture and actions showed she had suffered some sort of abuse at the hands of whoever was supposed to be looking after her. Poor darling.

The girl was clearly very protective over the child. As Vivian expected, Mal just held Melanie tighter.

"I just want to make sure she's healthy. I'll stay right here, okay? I won't go anywhere."

Mal bit her lip, but handed the tiny baby over anyway.

As promised, Vivian didn't go far. The baby was surprisingly healthy, and she told Mal so and the girl almost had a look of pride on her face.

"She's a little dehydrated too, I imagine, but that's alright. That's an easy fix." Vivian returned Melanie, a shockingly quiet infant, back to her mother and left the room again, this time returning with a bottle, two pills, and a can.

"This is for you." Vivian told Mal, setting the can beside her on a little table. "Weirdly enough, when your body is low on water, drinking it can actually make you feel worse at first, so this is a soda called ginger ale. It tastes kinda funny but it'll help your stomach and put fluid back in your body. The bottle's for Melanie. And I want you to take these. They'll help you feel better." Vivian put the pills in Mal's hand.

The teenager studied the cream colored capsule and red pill in her palm. "Take them where?"

Vivian's heart broke. These Isle kids knew nothing about medicine or doctors or anything, did they?

"You just swallow them whole and then drink some of this and then you should start feeling better soon. It sounds crazy, but I promise you it's true."

Mal, hesitant as she was, did as Vivian instructed and then examined the baby bottle with a curious expression.

"It's for Melanie," Vivian repeated gently. Did they not have bottles or had this young girl simply not fed the baby? Is that why Melanie was so quiet? No, impossible. She'd be long dead if Mal had refused to feed it.

"I know that," a sudden, surprising bitterness had entered Mal's tone.

"Have you never seen a bottle before?"

The hostility was still present in Mal's reply. "No, in fact I haven't."

"You've fed Melanie though?"

"Of course I have, I'm not stupid." Mal replied. Vivian decided to ignore the tone and instead helped Mal hold Melanie the correct way. Mal held the bottle to Melanie's mouth and it took a little coaxing, but she finally took it and when she did, Mal visibly relaxed and even smiled a bit at the baby.

Mal cared deeply for Melanie and that was obvious. It was also obvious that she wanted to do what was best for her baby. Vivian was very impressed. Mal was fourteen and in twenty minutes, she had proven herself a better and more capable mother than some Auradonian moms she had seen. That was commendable.

After Melanie had finished her bottle and fallen back to sleep, Vivian took a deep breath and asked a questioned she feared she already knew the answer too. "Mal, do your parents know about Melanie?"

Mal looked up at Vivian, a dark expression present. "No."

"No?"

"Mother doesn't bother with me, why would she care?" It was meant to sound nonchalant, but Vivian heard the pain the words carried.

"And your father?"

"I've never met my father."

Vivian hesitated. "What about Melanie's father?"

Mal visibly tensed again and Vivian instantly felt awful. Neither of them said a word for quite some time, but Vivian knew all she needed to know for the minute.

Mal eventually grew sleepy and Vivian took Melanie from her and placed her in the one and only bassinet she had available that she had moved to right next to Mal.

"I want you both to stay here, at least for tonight. Will your mother mind?"

"If she hasn't wondered where I've been for a week yet, I doubt it'll matter."

Vivian gave Mal a blanket. "You get some rest. I'll get Melanie if she wakes up, okay?"

And before Vivian knew it, Mal was asleep.

Vivian peered out at the front of the clinic to see Jay still standing there. She decided to talk to him.

"Are they okay?" he asked earnestly.

"They're both a little dehydrated, but they'll be fine. They're both asleep now. I'd like them to spend the time being here where I can keep an eye on them."

The boy nodded.

"Thank you for bringing them in. Mal will be feeling better soon."

"It was a fight to get her here. She's stubborn when she wants to be. I'm glad they're okay."

Vivian really couldn't see Mal as stubborn. She had complied with everything with hardly anything more than natural fear and hesitation. She seemed like a sweet girl. "Me too,"

"I'll be back tomorrow maybe,"

Vivian nodded. "Goodbye, Jay."

He waved and disappeared out the door. The young nurse went back to her patients.

Maybe there was a reason she was here after all.

* * *

 _ **This is the last we see of Vivian for a while, but she will make a return in other flashbacks. The nextchapter goes back to the main timeline of the story.**_

 _ **I hope you're enjoying the story, please review!**_


	4. Chapter 4

_**Again, back to the main timeline of the story.**_

* * *

"How are you?" Jay asked Mal after standing up from hugging Melanie. The girl darted back to her mother's side and took her hand.

Mal shrugged. "We had a bit of a close call last night."

Jay frowned. He knew Melanie was a secret from Maleficent and knew hiding a child from a mad woman was a struggle. "Everything okay?"

"It's normal." Nothing would ever be okay. Not in this lifetime. Not on that hellhole of an island.

Jay nodded and took a few things out of his pockets. "Take something. Anything."

"Jay-"

He shook his head. They did this all the time but Mal still didn't like it. She didn't like handouts and that was essentially what it was.

She had Melanie to mind and therefore could not steal or scavenge like she used to and if she tried, Jay usually stopped her. He would offer her some of his best finds to trade or bargain for things she and Melanie needed to help them out instead of giving them to his father for the shop. Sometimes, he even stole the stolen goods from the shop for Mal to use as she pleased. He was playing a dangerous game for her sake and she didn't like it one bit.

"Mal. Please." Jay pleaded.

Mal sighed and examined the items. Jay wouldn't let her leave unless she took something. She knew that. And she really didn't feel like arguing. Melanie was distracted by one of her favorite people in the world calling her name.

"Melanie?"

"Evie!" Melanie cried, running over to her. Evie laughed and picked up the little girl and hugged her tight.

"Good morning, little one." Evie greeted cheerfully, still holding Melanie. "Guess what I have for you."

"What?"

Evie put Melanie on her feet and took something made of gray cloth out of her bag. She unfolded it. It was a long-sleeved gray dress with light purple trim. Melanie, like her mother, had an affinity for the color purple, but unlike Mal, Melanie liked the lighter shades.

The little girl's eyes lit up.

"What do you think?"

"I like it!" Melanie exclaimed, bouncing a little. "Mama, look!"

Mal turned at her daughter's words to see an excited little girl, and a proud Evie holding the dress.

Evie was the reason why Melanie had more clothes than anyone Mal knew. She said she made clothes for Melanie only when she got bored and because dresses for little girls were easier to make with fabric scraps, but that was only partially the case. Evie had sort of become Mal's sister figure and Melanie's aunt. She looked out for both of them with a fierce protectiveness unlike anything she experienced before. It was nice have a purpose in life, but she did it out if love more than anything. Evie simply adored Mal and Melanie.

Mal was older than Evie was, just by a few months, and she was strong and brave, but Evie had learned very quickly after meeting the purple-haired girl that she was also shattered to pieces. She was quiet and easily startled, she didn't like to be touched, she was distant and withdrawn and rather timid. Nothing like Evie had heard from the kids at school.

Evie had started at Dragon Hall when she was sixteen. She had quickly befriended Carlos and turned Jay's failed attempt at flirting with her into a friendship.

Mal had dropped out of school two years previous because of Melanie's birth and Evie never saw her because of that. She remembered the angry little version of Mal when she hadn't been invited to Her birthday party all those years ago, but that was it. Rumors spiraled around the school about Mal, though. Rumors about who Melanie's father was (someone had seen her with the child and told their friends and the stories surrounding Melanie's existence had quickly spiraled out of control), rumors about her apparent affair with one of the teachers or someone from Auradon, and some even that she was dead, either by suicide or her mother, and that Melanie was dead too.

Evie hadn't known what to make of the mysterious and absent purple-haired girl who was a coward and courageous and scared and terrifying all at once, according to rumors. That is until Jay had taken both Evie and Carlos to his hideout of sorts and the very enigma the school never shut up about was sitting on the floor with a tiny little girl scribbling with broken crayons on the back of some Auradon family's to do list.

Evie had spoken to Mal at first like she would speak to anyone her age, but quickly discovered that the other girl didn't respond well to that. Mal seemed as if she were, at some level, emotionally stunted at around twelve or thirteen. Evie began to speak and interact with Mal as if she were twelve or thirteen and because of this, she had begun to think of her as three or four years younger and therefore someone vulnerable who needed protecting instead of the slightly older and scary girl she had heard stories about.

It had been two years since Evie first met Mal and though she was still quiet, generally anxious, and disliked physical contact, the daughter of the most feared villain seemed more like the eighteen year old she was instead of the thirteen year old she had been for a few years too long. There were still moments, days even, when she backtracked to being a preteen. These were beyond her control and no one thought less of her because of it, but she was usually aware when she wasn't acting her age and it tended upset her.

Evie somewhat attributed Mal's general improvement in her emotional state to having friends. She was no longer isolated or taking care of her child alone. And Jay, Carlos, and Evie were her age, not a babbling toddler.

Even though Evie no longer used the very gentle and literal language she had used when she and Mal first became friends and Mal didn't seem so young and vulnerable, Evie still viewed her as a younger sister and would always do everything in her power to make sure she and Melanie were safe and looked after.

Mal smiled at Evie. "Thank you," she said quietly. Little things that made Melanie happy made Mal happy too.

"Of course," Evie beamed.

"Can I wear it?" Melanie asked both Evie and her mother. "Please?"

"Yes," Mal told her.

Melanie jumped up and down.

"I'm... going to see where Carlos is." Jay announced. Clearly this was just an excuse to not be in the room while Melanie changed. She was four and though she probably didn't care, the last thing he wanted was to make anyone uncomfortable. Could he have just turned around? Yes, but he also kind of wanted to see where his best friend was.

"Okay," Evie replied.

"Be right back," he said as he walked out the door.

Melanie pulled her jacket off and the dark pink and black dress she was wearing (also made by Evie) and Evie helped her put the new dress on. Melanie immediately twirled around and the dress fanned out as she did so, making her giggle. Evie smiled.

"You look beautiful, Melanie." Mal told her daughter when the girl stopped spinning. "You're better dressed than any princess over in Auradon, I'm sure."

Melanie beamed and hugged Evie's legs. "Thank you,"

Evie knelt to Melanie's height. "You're very welcome sweetheart."

When Jay returned with Carlos in tow, both of them told Melanie she looked pretty.

Carlos said she was the prettiest princess he had ever seen and started to dance with her, even though there was no music and no reason to. Melanie couldn't really keep up, but she was trying. After a moment, Jay asked Evie to dance with him.

Mal stood back watching with a smile. Her four favorite people were dancing and bumping into each other, each dancing to their own rhythm. Their laughter filled the small space. Melanie wasn't thinking about how hungry she was or her nightmares or Maleficent.

It was days like this that Mal thought life was worth living after all, that it wasn't all bad. Days like this gave her hope that someday, life could get better.

She held onto them with everything she had.

* * *

 _ **I hope you're enjoying the story. Thanks for reading! Please review!**_


	5. Chapter 5

_**This is the last chapter from AO3 to transfer and the story is caught up. From now on, when I update here, it'll be a brand new chapter and be posted to both sites.**_

 _ **Enjoy.**_

* * *

Mal snuck Melanie up the stairs as quickly as she always did. The girl was tiny, moved soundlessly, and she could hide in the shadows very easily. Mal was not really concerned about getting caught.

When they reached the bedroom they shared, Melanie slunk between the bed and the wall, making her impossible to see. Maleficent, as of late and for whatever reason, tended to check in on her daughter if she heard her return after a day of being out, and if she did throw open the door, the little girl could easily shimmy under the bed without making her presence known.

Mal took Melanie's dress and shoved it under her pillow to hide it from her mother's eyes. She was just putting her newest knick knack on a shelf when the door flung open, revealing the most feared woman on the Isle.

"Stealing junk again, are we?" Maleficent sneered in her daughter's direction as she looked at the trinkets on the shelves. "When are you going to be better than this, Mal? This-This is child's play. When are you going to become truly evil? Someone I can be proud of?"

Mal didn't reply. She moved around some of her trinkets instead.

"You're pathetic. A waste of my time, really. Had I known my only child would be such a failure, why, I might not even have let you live to see your first birthday."

Mal didn't even react. It was not the first time she had heard that. She was used to it. It shouldn't have hurt her, but she felt the words rip into her heart.

"I hope you have your own food because you can't have any of mine," Maleficent continued to taunt. "You're a disgrace to me, Mal Bertha. You always will be."

With a scowl and a majestic flourish of deep purple robes, Maleficent slammed the door behind her. Her footsteps echoed down the empty hall until they faded all together.

Mal turned and dropped to her knees beside the bed. "Melanie, it's safe to come out now."

Melanie crawled out from her hiding spot and into Mal's lap, where she sagged against her mother. "I'm hungry," Melanie whimpered very softly. Melanie never whined or complained or asked for anything at any time. This was clearly serious.

"I know, I'm sorry." Mal replied gently, rubbing the girl's back. "There's not a lot of food to find lately. But I'm trying my best to find some, okay?" The objects Jay had given her had turned out to be entirely useless to her, but that hadn't been his fault.

Melanie nodded and stuck her thumb in her mouth. Her stomach growled and Mal frowned. She was used to being hungry, it didn't bother her much any more but Melanie was still growing. She couldn't afford to be hungry.

Mal combed her fingers through her daughter's hair and Melanie looked up at her and smiled her sweet, innocent smile around her thumb. Even starving, she adored her mother. Mal was Melanie's world and Melanie was Mal's.

But sometimes Mal didn't want to be anywhere near her. Sometimes she saw Melanie's father too clearly in her face. Sometimes that brought dark memories that she had shoved to the back of her mind. Sometimes those memories came front and center and made her nervous and afraid of the world, rendering her incapable of looking after herself, let alone Melanie.

During those times, even though Melanie had no idea what was going on, she'd sit quietly on the floor and color with her broken crayons or make up stories in her head. She never bothered her mother on those days.

Mal would snap out of it eventually, whether it be a few moments to a few hours, and would immediately feel guilty. Melanie had not asked to exist, she knew. And yet she neglected her for a while because her mind was playing tricks on her.

But Melanie was never upset with her for it.

Mal didn't deserve the wonderful little girl the universe had given her, yet she had her. She felt extremely lucky, but was also horribly ashamed.

Such a lovely little girl should have a much better life than the one she was giving her.

Sometimes Mal felt sick just thinking about everything. Tonightwas one of those nights.

Melanie, due to her exhaustion and the repetitive feeling of her mother playing with her hair, dozed off in Mal's lap, thumb still in her mouth.

Mal carefully got up with her daughter in her arms and placed her in bed. Melanie rolled over and curled up on her side. Mal kissed her forehead softly and the faintest trace of a smile appeared on the child's face.

Mal tugged the blankets over Melanie before she moved to look out her window.

Melanie would wake up soon, no doubt, stomach hurting from being hungry. And there would be nothing for Mal to do to ease her pain.

For the first time in a long time, Mal cried.

* * *

Melanie woke at dawn, stomach growling. She had slept through the night with a hungry tummy, but it had eventually woken her up.

Mal was sleeping beside her, a worried expression on her face even in sleep.

Melanie never woke up her mother on purpose. She woke her enough with her nightmares, she didn't need to wake her up just because she was awake.

Melanie snuggled close to her mother and tried to go to sleep again, but it wouldn't come. Her growling stomach wouldn't let her sleep. Her head hurt too.

Her mama was a good mama. She tried very hard to get them food and it wasn't her fault there wasn't any. Perhaps more importantly, Melanie knew her mama cared very deeply for her. She felt safe when she was with her mother. Her mama would never let anything bad happen to her and Melanie knew that.

"Are you awake already?"

Melanie started a bit at the sound of her mother's voice. She hadn't expected her to be awake.

Mal chuckled a little and pushed hair from her daughter's forehead. "I'm sorry, baby."

Melanie didn't reply, instead she turned and cuddled against her mother even more than she already was. She still didn't feel well.

"What's wrong?" Mal asked, concern lacing her voice. This behavior was very out of character for her daughter. Melanie loved to be held, but she seemed so different. It was like she was sad... or sick.

"My head hurts." Melanie murmured.

Mal pressed her hand against the little girl's forehead to check for a fever. She didn't feel any warmer than usual. "Anythig else bothering you?"

"My tummy," Melanie said after a moment. She didn't like to complain. She knew she was hungry. Her mommy knew she was hungry. There was nothing for either of them to do.

"I'm sorry," Mal whispered, wrapping her arms around her daughter and hugging her close.

Mal had never felt so helpless before. Her daughter was starving and feeling sick because of it and she could not feed her. She could not make her feel were supposed to be able to take care of their children, to feed them. Perhaps she didn't have the best example but she knew that much.

It was the first time in years that Mal thought about taking Melanie to the orphanage. The orphanage always had food, however meager, supplied from Auradon. At least Melanie could eat. She could even have the chance of finding a better family.

But Melanie would refuse. There is no way she would ever leave her. Her heart would be crushed. And Mal couldn't bear to walk her dear little girl up the steps and into the care of some strange lady only to turn around and leave her behind. Melanie would cry and scream and run after her. Melanie adored her. But maybe she'd be better off if she didn't.

"Try and get some more sleep, baby." Mal told Melanie. "Maybe your head will stop hurting so much." It was the only thing Mal could think of.

"Okay," Melanie replied. Her eyes fluttered shut.

Mal rubbed Melanie's back and within moments, she was asleep once more.

Mal looked down at the face of her little girl. They looked awfully similar, the two of them. The certainly had the same nose and face shape. But Melanie's hair was a mousy brown color and her eyes were hazel and her skin was a few shades darker than her mother's.

She couldn't have imagined a more beautiful child, not even in her dreams, and yet here she was, tucked in her arms and breathing softly against her neck.

Mal made a silent promise to her daughter as she pressed a kiss to her head. Someday you'll be taken care of the right way. I promise you.

* * *

Miles away and across the sea in Auradon's castle, the young King Ben worked on packing a suitcase. He had an important journey to make in the coming days and wanted to be prepared.

* * *

 _ **Thank you for reading! I really do hope you're enjoying the story so far! Please review! They make me want to write more! Again, thanks for reading!**_


	6. Chapter 6

_**Wow, it sure has been a while! Sorry about that, but I'm in college now. Free time is sometimes hard to come by.**_

 _ **I'd say enjoy this chapter, but I'm not sure if that is entirely appropriate in this context. This chapter picks up a few days after the last one ended.**_

 _ *******PLEASE heed my warnings more than usual for this. Lots of mention of death/self-harm/suicidal thoughts, etc. I'm not entirely sure where this extra darkness came from, but it's here.**_

* * *

Melanie's head was resting on Mal's shoulder as they headed toward the little hideout where they spent most of their time.

The four year old was really not feeling well at all and it showed. The usually upbeat child was slow and sluggish, she wasn't smiling or anything. The poor thing was starving. She needed food and soon. Mal hoped Jay, Carlos, or Evie would be willing to look after Melanie while she did an extensive search for food.

"Mama," Melanie whimpered.

"Yes?" Mal asked softly.

"Mama I want to lay down." Melanie said weakly. Her head hurt.

"I know, baby. You can in a few minutes, okay?" Mal hugged Melanie tighter to her body. Melanie was miserable. Even if she was sick and her unusual behavior wasn't a symptom of being hungry, not eating would only make her worse. Mal wasn't feeling so hot herself, but she was fairly certain she was just getting sick. She had been hungry like this before, but her little girl had never been.

Melanie nodded slowly against her mother, Mal rubbed her back.

Two girls caught Mal's eye as she continued down the street. The girls looked similar, probably sisters or cousins. One of the girls, the smaller one, couldn't have been any older than Mal had been when Melanie was born, if she were even that old, was sitting with her back against a crumbling building, holding her knees to her chest, but she was quite obviously pregnant. She looked uncomfortable and in pain. The other girl, likely a few years older, but definitley bigger, was taking down blankets and towels from a clothes line.

Mal and the smaller girl made eye contact. The girl looked at Melanie in Mal's arms and then glanced down before looking back up and giving Mal a small, uncertain smile.

Mal returned the smile as the older girl placed her free hand on the other girl's head gently. "Let's go back inisde now, Ilene. The sidewalk isn't a good place to have a baby."

Ilene nodded slowly and the other girl held her hand out to help her stand. Ilene was much smaller than Mal had thought she was.

The older girl looked over her shoulder at Mal. Her face said everything she was thinking: It's likely Ilene wouldn't live through childbirth, or if she did, she wouldn't live much longer.

Ilene collapsed back to the ground with a whimper of pain, and the girl riped her eyes from Mal to attend to her.

Mal hurried past the pair of girls before she could see anything else.

Ilene was going to join the many, many Isle girls who passed away before their time because they became mothers too young. It was all too common on the Isle. Only a small minority of the youngest Isle residents existed because their parents were devoted to one another, they existed because men and boys took advantage of girls for sport. Young girls who were not physically or emotinally ready to care for a child.

Mal was a rather small girl all things considered. Girls she knew of that were bigger than her, older than her hadn't lived through the births of their children, but somehow she managed to. For some reason she was still alive.

Some might say she was one of the lucky ones, to have lived and to have a living child.

Most of the time, Mal didn't feel so lucky.

* * *

When they reached the hideout, Evie was the only one present. She was sitting on the ground, sewing another fabric square onto a quilt she was making. She looked up when she heard Mal's footsteps and she greeted her with a soft smile. "Good morning,"

Mal nodded a bit in response. She knelt down and lowered a now-sleeping Melanie to a blanket on the ground.

"I just washed that, so it's nice and clean... oh! And I brought food! I've been sneaking it to my room for you two..." Evie shoved a basket towards Mal. "It's mostly bread I'm afraid, but there's a boat coming in later that's supposed to have food. Help yourself."

Mal hesitated. She hate handouts, but Evie sent her a You Better Eat look, so Mal grabbed a dinner roll out of the basket and sat beside Evie. She picked small pieces off of the roll to eat.

"Are you okay, Mal?" asked Evie.

"Melanie is sick I think." Mal said.

Evie put her hand on Mal's shoulder softly. "That's not your fault. It'll be okay."

Mal stared at her roll. Evie wouldn't understand what she was thinking. There was a part of her mind that blamed everything on herself. It was a tricky place and it was scary. She had suppressed it for a long time, since she had been so distracted by caring for a newborn, but it was creeping back in slowly. She didn't like it. It frightened her badly. She didn't know how to put those feelings into words.

Melanie was sick because Mal couldn't look after her. It was her fault.

"Something else is wrong," Evie observed.

"I saw a girl... she was so small. She's going to have a baby..." Mal looked up to her friend. Her voice was soft and shaky. "She's not going to live, Evie."

"Mal, you don't know that-"

"She's younger than I was... she has to be." Tears welled in Mal's eyes. She had no idea while this strange girl had affected her so much, but she did. "Evie, she's going to die."

"She might not-"

"She will! She'll die. Just like all the rest of them."

No one would remember Ilene, no one would care. She would just be another number. A number leaving behind an orphan or taking it with her, but a number all the same.

"I should've died like the rest of them!"

Evie looked startled. Mal had never said anything like that before.

Mal hadn't meant to say that. She had never told anyone she felt that way. She scooted away from Evie.

"Mal?" Evie reached out. Mal turned away. "Mal, talk to me. Why do you think you should've died?"

"I was small and... it'd have just been easier for everyone." Mal whispered, looking at Melanie, who was still asleep, chest rising and falling. Melanie was precious, she meant everything to Mal. But sometimes Mal wished she didn't.

"Please don't say that." Evie whispered, frightened.

"I almost did. I think... if I had just given up that night, Melanie and I... neither of us would be here now." They were such a burden and Mal hated it.

Evie hated how wistful Mal sounded. "Why didn't you?"

"Something told me I couldn't... that Melanie needed me. But sometimes I wish I wouldn't have listened."

Evie finally took Mal's hand in her own. "I'm glad you listened."

Mal looked down at Evie's hand holding her own. "Jay... he saved us too. When Melanie was a week old. He saved us."

Mal sounded so greatful that he had. She had lots of emotions. Too many. And she had never told anyone how much she was struggling. "I... never knew that."

"I want to be here. With you and Melanie and Jay and Carlos. But I kind of wish I wasn't at the same time." Mal scrubbed at her eyes with the back of her hand. "It scares me."

Evie scooted closer to Mal and pulled her into a hug. Mal didn't resist. Evie bit her lip and then she asked a question she feared she already knew the answer to. "Have you ever hurt yourself?"

Mal slowly pushed up a sleeve of her jacket, revealing faded scars that looked like scratches up her forearm. "Not since Melanie was born." Mal explained in a low voice.

Melanie had saved Mal. That little girl asleep on a blanket in the middle of that tiny room had saved her mother's life and she had no idea. Evie wondered if Mal had even realized. If Melanie hadn't been born, or if she had died and Mal had lived, Evie couldn't imagine what would've become of Mal. The very thought sent shivers down her spine.

Evie brushed her fingers very lightly over Mal's arm. "Mal?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm glad you and Melanie are here. I always will be."

Mal leaned against Evie in a way she never had before. She hated to be touched, but something about Evie was very soothing. Evie was surprised by Mal's sudden affection, but tried not to show it. She rubbed her hand up and down Mal's back lightly. "Please talk to me when you're scared, okay? I'll listen."

Mal nodded and for once, she felt secure.

"You guys!" Carlos banged into the hideout loudly, scaring Melanie awake and making her cry. Mal wriggled out of Evie's arm to gather the little girl in her own arms. Evie glared at Carlos.

"It's okay, baby." Mal said soothingly, rocking Melanie back and forth. Melanie's tears started to subside.

"Sorry," Carlos said sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck.

"What's wrong?" Evie asked, standing up and straightining her skirt.

"A car from Auradon is here." Carlos said. "Rumor is it's King Ben."

* * *

 _ **A/N: I'm not entirely sure what to make of this chapter myself, so I'd appreciate some feedback.**_

 _ **Thanks for reading and please review.**_


	7. Chapter 7

_**Thank you all for your reviews! I appreciate them so much! Here's the next chapter! Enjoy!**_

* * *

To say Ben was appalled by his surroundings was an understatement. He could not believe what he was seeing. The buildings looked ready to topple at any minute, the pavement was cracked terribly. The ground was littered with trash. The air smelled burnt and the scent of rot was thick as well. And then there was the people.

They looked disheveled, broken, sad. He was expecting protest at his arrival, but these so-called evil people looked drained simply from living. In fact, most of them skittered away in fear. He was on the reciving end of a few sneers and some choice words, but nothing else happened.

Not yet, anyway. He was still by his car. Perhaps things would change when these people saw that he would be left defenseless after the car left and took his guards with it.

"Go back to your castle, you spoiled brat!" shouted a man. When Ben turned to look for him, the man ran away.

"Are you sure you want to do this, Your Highness?" asked a guard, closing the trunk of the car.

Ben wasn't listening. He was looking around at the island, feeling sadder and sadder the longer he looked. "I can't believe Dad allowed this to happen..."

"They're not good people. That's why your father placed them here."

"They can't all be unredeemable, can they?"

"Your Highness, they're all marked as threats to the genral population." the guard replied, sounding exasperated.

Ben's eyes fell on a curious little boy clutching the hand of his frightened-looking young mother who were watching him with interest from just inside the shadows in a nearby alley. "Even them, Franklin?" he asked, nodding towards them.

The man followed Ben's gaze. "I'd imagine their parents are what put them here."

"Why are we punishing children for the faults of their parents? They are innocent."

Franklin smiled condescendingly at the young man before him. "Of course they are, sir."

Ben sucked in a deep breath and bent to pick up his suitcase to keep from being rude to Franklin. He had simply never liked the man because the man had never liked him much. When he was about twelve or so, he had overheard Franklin complaining about him being "too soft" to be a good king. Apparently he was too much like his mother and "would be better suited to be queen". Ben always found this funny though because if there was one person Franklin was afraid of, it was Queen Belle.

Ben walked towards the front of the car. Hank, another guard was in the front seat.

"I admire you, Ben." Hank said, sincerely. "There are not many leaders in the world who would do this. You are an incredible young man. Your parents should be awfully proud of you."

Ben thanked him.

"When should we come back to get you, Ben?"

"I'll write you a letter." Ben assured. "I could be here a while."

Hank nodded, but passed a blue remote out the window to the young man. "Write us a letter, but should there be an emergency, you press this button. It's charmed specially by Fairy Godmother to work here. It'll alert us immediatley and we can be here in under an hour."

Ben unzipped his suitcase just enough to slip it in. "I appreciate it."

Franklin got in the driver's seat and started the car.

"Thank you, gentlemen. Have a safe trip back."

"Thank you, Ben. We wish you the best. See you soon." Hank replied.

Franklin waved as he put the car into reverse. The car drove off.

Ben was left standing in the middle of the street, holding a suitcase, feeling all eyes on him.

 _Now what?_ He thought.

* * *

Evie and Carlos left Mal and Melanie in the hideout to eat and they went out to look to see if it was really King Ben who arrived in that car.

They went to the center of town, only to see things just as they always are. People selling their meager wares, children running barefoot, nothing unusual. They didn't dare ask about the car, that would make them suspicious, so they acted like they came to look at the cloth stand. Evie didn't see anything she liked, but she definitley flirted with the merchant anyway, just like she always did. Carlos found this absolutley hilarious, just like he always did. Evie was not interested in that man. The man had the personality of a wet rag. Evie was too good for him and everyone knew it. Except for the merchant. She didn't care about him, she cared about fabric to make clothes with that she often got for free.

After they left, they hugged the alleys and back ways so that they could peer out on what an outsider might consider the main pathways without being seen.

Twenty minutes after venturing out, they saw an unfamiliar boy of about their age holding a blue suitcase wandering into the back alleys.

Evie and Carlos glanced curiously at each other. No self-respecting Auradonian would ever trapise through the alleys. Interesting.

After following him for a while, Carlos realized he was headed towards the pirate headquarters. Not a good place for anyone to go, but especially the curious king.

Carlos whispered this to Evie and it was instantly decided that they could not let that young man go any farther.

"I wouldn't go that way if I were you." Evie said.

The pursued boy jumped, startled and turned around. "Hello? Who said that?"

Evie stepped forward. "I did."

It was clear that the boy was frightened, but he puffed himself up. "And who are you to tell me where I can and cannot go, Miss?"

"Evie. Call me Evie. I'm the daughter of the Evil Queen. And that means," Evie walked slowly towards the boy, twirling her hair around her fingers. "I'm from around here and you aren't."

"And what exactly is over there that I shouldn't be seeing?"

"That's the pirate's territory... and if you value your life even a little, going any further would not be advised." Evie was standing with her hand on one hip and her other hand still twirling her hair. This stranger was rather handsome. And if he was the king...

"Well, in that case," the stranger put his suitcase down and extended his hand towards her, sounding a little relieved. Evie took it. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Evie. I'm Ben."

"Why, that means you're our king, doesn't it? My appologies, Your Highness," Evie dropped to a curtsy.

"Please don't... I'm just Ben here."

"Why are you here anyway?" Carlos asked, stepping out of the shadows.

"Who are you?"

"Carlos de Vil, son of Cruella de Vil."

Ben extended his hand to Carlos as well. "Nice to meet you too, Carlos." If he thought their apperance was odd, he didn't say it.

"Yeah, why are you here?" Evie questioned.

"I've come to see what life is like for you here on the island, so I'm staying here a while. I hope to use what I've learned to reform policies and procedures my father made when he was in charge. I am not happy with the way things are and I get to change them now that I'm king." Ben sounded confident, like he knew what he was doing.

"And where are you staying?" Carlos asked. "We don't exactly have a hotel here."

Ben's shoulders fell. "I hadn't made plans for that."

"Well, that was pretty stupid of you." Carlos replied.

"Yeah, I know... you two wouldn't happen to know of a place where I could stay for a while, would you?"

"We have a place."

Carlos turned to Evie, eyes wide. No way was she planning on taking him to the hideout. That was ridiculous. He could not imagine Mal's reaction to a strange man entering their place of solitude and safety. And Jay would not be happy.

Evie glared at him.

Carlos shook his head.

"It'll be fine, Carlos." Evie replied. She couldn't let this boy stay on these streets. And she simply couldn't loose him.

Carlos held his hands up in defense. Evie was stubborn if she wanted to be.

Ben looked concerned, but Evie smiled warmly. "Follow us, we'll take you to where we spend most of our time. You can stay there with us."

"Thank you very much. It's very kind of you."

Evie smiled smugly at Carlos as they headed back towards the hideout.

Ben tried to make pleasant small talk with them as they walked, but small talk was not something they were used to. They replied with short, coarse answers until they reached the door.

"Our friend is in there," Carlos warned Ben. "She's kind of skittish, so you have to be-"

"Gentle?" Ben supplied.

"Yes, gentle." Evie agreed.

"What's her name?"

"Mal," Evie told him as she opened the door. She and Carlos stepped in and he followed suit.

Ben was shocked to see this Mal holding a little girl who looked remarkably like her in her lap.

"Mal?" Evie lowered herself to the ground beside the other girl. "We found him... he came back with us."

Mal looked up shyly and when she met Ben's eyes, Ben smiled kindly at her. Mal scooted into the corner and clutched the girl closer to her, frightened.

"It's okay, Mal." Evie said soothingly. "He's nice. He won't hurt you."

Mal eyed Ben suspiciously still.

 _Poor thing, what happened to her?_ Ben thought.

"Ben, meet Mal and Melanie." Carlos introduced. "Mal, Melanie... this is Ben."

Mal looked away from Ben and looked back to the sleepy little girl.

Ben thought Mal was absolutely beautiful.

* * *

 _ **A/N: So Ben has met the VKs! What do you guys think will happen next?**_

 _ **What are your thoughts on this chapter? Please let me know in a review!**_

 _ **Thanks for reading!**_


	8. Chapter 8

_**Hello, everyone! I'm sorry this took so long. I haven't had any motivation in weeks and college is definitely keeping me busy. Thanks for sticking around, though!**_

 _ **I hope you like this chapter! The beginning is a flashback.**_

 _ **Enjoy!**_

* * *

It was pouring rain. Thunder crashed as lighting lit up the sky.

Mal hated the rain. She used to be one of the many people who was lulled to sleep by the pitter patter of the raindrops on her window, but not anymore. Rainy nights were her worst nights.

There was the contstant drip, drip, drip from the water coming through the leaky roof and splattering onto the floor. It was very soft all things consdiered, but to Mal it sounded like pots and pans being clanged together.

She had pressed herself into the corner of her room and she clutched a thin blanket around her shivering body. She wasn't sure if she was shivering from the cold or her fears or both, but she knew she wouldn't be able to sleep until the rain stopped, so it was pointless to try.

On bad nights, Vivian had encouraged her to bring Melanie and come spend the night with her, no matter what the hour. Mal had taken up the offer several times, but the rain was just coming down too hard for her to even consider taking Melanie out in it or even herself- she hated to be wet. It was coming down too hard for her to even think straight.

A particularly bright flash of lighting lit up the room followed immediatkey by a loud crash of thunder shook the room. Mal squeaked, clapped her hands over her ears and squeezed her eyes shut to try to hold her tears back.

Mal started as she felt a tiny hand on her arm. Her eyes flew open only to see Melanie standing beside her, concern written all over her little face. "Mama?"

Mal silently cursed herself for waking up Melanie, but forced herself to smile a bit at her little girl and she pulled her hands away from her ears."I'm fine,"

Melanie shook her head furiously. "No,"

Mal put her hand on Melanie's cheek. "Go back to bed, Melanie. I'm fine, I promise. Mama's okay."

Melanie did go back to the bed, but not to sleep. She tugged on the other blanket with her little arms until it came off the bed. When it did, she dragged in over to where Mal was sitting and plopped down next her, trying to put the blanket over both of them. Mal teared up again, but this time because Melanie was being so sweet. Mal pulled the girl into her lap and pulled the blanket over both of them.

Melanie turned a bit in Mal's arms to snuggle against her more and Mal only held her tighter.

"I stay until it stops raining, Mama." Melanie murmured. "So you're not scared no more."

"Thank you, baby." Mal replied before leaning down to kiss the girl on the head.

"Why don't you like the rain?" Melanie questioned.

"The thunder is too loud." Mal lied. "It scares me."

Melanie bought the lie, though. "Don't worry Mama, it goes away."

Mal kissed her again.

Before long, the three year old was fast asleep once more. She looked so innocent and peaceful in her sleep, something Mal wished her life could be. It wasn't. It was far from it. It was unstable and awful.

She promised herself when Melanie was very small that she would do her best to never lie to her, but she could never tell Melanie the real reason she hated thunderstorms. But everytime she closed her eyes when it poured like it was, the only thing she could see was the face of Melanie's father. It terrified her.

It also terrified her that the most beautiful thing she had ever seen in her whole life came to her because of some terrible events. Because maybe one day, Melanie could wake up and turn into a terrible person. It was scary. Mal was scared of what the future would bring for Melanie, for both of them.

Mal rested her head on the wall and looked down at the beautiful child in her arms. She hoped she cared for Melanie at least half as much as the girl cared for her.

* * *

Mal and Melanie were sitting in the corner, trying to make themselves as small as possible as Ben spoke amiably to their friends.

"So you're here because you want to help us?" Jay asked. He had shown up not long after Evie and Carlos had arrived with Ben.

"Yes. My father meant well, I suppose, but much of what he did is just awful. I'm king now, and it's now my job to fix it. I figured that the best way to help all of you here on the island is to listen to you."

Carlos, Evie, and Jay nodded pensively.

"How long will you be here?" Evie questioned.

"As long as it takes."

Evie smiled a bit, looking hopeful.

Carlos looked confused. "Well then who is, you know, running the country?"

"I've appointed several people to several different areas, but I asked my mother to keep an eye on all of them."

"Not your dad?" asked Jay.

"No. My mother... I think my mother is a better leader in some respects." Ben replied. "I do love my dad, but Mom... I think Mom understands me and what I'm trying to do more than he ever will."

"Do you miss them?" Carlos asked.

"Yes." Ben said, before laughing a little sheepishly. "I'm too old for it though, I suppose. Especially because I've only been away for a few hours. I'm eighteen. I don't need my mom and dad too much anymore."

"Do they miss you, you think?" Jay wondered.

"I'm sure they must. I'm their only child."

The three Isle residents looked at each other for a moment, wondering what it would feel like to be loved enough that your parents would miss you when you were gone.

"Do you guys have any siblings?" Ben asked with a kind smile.

The three of them shook their heads.

Ben looked to Mal and spoke in a gentle voice. "So it's just you then? Do you like having a little sister?"

Mal looked at him, perplexed. Melanie was sucking her thumb and leaning against Mal's arm.

Jay, Evie, and Carlos looked at each other with wide eyes. What should they do? They weren't sure if Mal would reply to Ben or even speak to him at all. New people, especially new males, seemed to make her mute from anxiety sometimes. But certainly they wouldn't tell him anything without her permission.

Mal surprised her friends by replying to Ben, though her sentence came out as a whsiper. "She's my daughter."

Ben's face flushed pink from embarrassment, but he scratched the back of his neck and cleared his throat. "My apologies. She's a beautiful girl. How old is she?"

Ben was mortified. How on earth was Mal old enough to have a daughter, especially one who looked like a preschooler? Evie was eighteen, Jay was closer to twenty than nineteen, and Carlos was going on seventeen soon. From her size and demeanor alone, Ben had thought Mal was thirteen or fourteen, maybe fifteen. But certainly not old enough to have a child. Was it possible Mal was the oldest? Did people have children young on the Isle? And just who was the child's father then?

Mal looked as if her words failed her when she tried to reply, and Evie was about to tell Ben, but someone beat her to it.

"I'm this many." Melanie announced in her soft voice, holding up four fingers. Melanie didn't like talking to strangers ever, and sometimes she wouldn't even speak to Jay or Evie or Carlos. This behavior was startling, but not bad really.

"Wow, you're a big girl then, aren't you?"

Melanie shrugged.

"Are you going to start school soon?" Ben was actually curious about the process of schooling on the Isle, maybe he could find out a little about it now.

Melanie shook her head.

"Oh?" Ben wondered. "Why not?"

Melanie didn't have an answer, so she ducked her head into Mal's side. Mal put her hand on the girl's back. Ben heard a tiny cough.

"We're just going to teach her here." Evie explained.

"Is the school system here that bad?" Ben asked, not wanting to believe it.

"That's part of it." Carlos said.

"We think the four of us could teach her bettwer here, yes. But also Melanie is very... delicate. Especially her stomach." Evie explained. "She needs people who know how to help her."

Ben glanced back to the little girl. "What's wrong with her stomach?"

"Most things she eats make her sick. Something that didn't make her sick yesterday could make her miserable today and the other way around." Jay answered. Mal nodded slowly in the corner, a sign that they could continue if they wanted.

"What kind of sick?"

Carlos frowned. "It can depend on the day, but usually she can't keep anything down."

"Oh..." Poor little thing.

"Also the school here won't take kids who aren't potty trained. We're still working on that." Evie added.

Ben nodded. He could not imagine being a parent on the island, no matter how old he would be. It sounded rough. The four of them clearly had made raising Melanie a team effort, yet it was clear it was still very hard.

Melanie coughed again.

"You okay, kiddo?" Jay asked her. "You need some water?"

Melanie looked at Mal, who whispered something to her, and then Melanie nodded at Jay.

"Mal?"

Mal shook her head. "No thanks."

"You stay there, I'll be right back." Jay got up to get the water. He returned in a moment and handed a little cup to Melanie.

"Thank you,"

"Of course, kid." Jay ruffled her hair before returning to his spot next to Carlos on their ragged couch.

"Remember, slow." Mal said softly to Melanie, smoothing the girl's hair back as she took a sip of water.

Part of Ben wondered if Jay was Melanie's father. Evie and Carlos clearly harbored a lot of affection for the two girls, but Jay seemed particularly doting to both of them. Ben decided not to ask, not yet anyway. It was remarkable that these four young adults were so close no matter how their individual relationships with each other worked out. They were not leading an easy life and they were all so different from each other, and yet they cared for each other a lot. So much.

Many people back in Auradon could learn from them.

* * *

 _ **A/N: Ben, our sweet bumbling boy. He's too cute.**_

 _ **I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it!**_

 _ **Please leave me your thoughts in a review!**_

 _ **Talk to you soon!**_


	9. Chapter 9

_**Sorry for such a long delay! College is certainly not the easiest time to find a chance to write. I do hope you enjoy!**_

* * *

Mal still lingered in the corner with her daughter even hours after Ben had arrived, staying far away from him, but too curious at him to go to the room where Evie was. It was almost like he was a new kind of animal that was potentially dangerous, but she couldn't bear to up and leave. Melanie had fallen asleep across her lap and her mother's hands were threading through her hair. Ben could have sworn that he heard the slightest bit of raspiness whenever Melanie breathed in, but no one else seemed to so he didn't worry too much.

Ben was scribbling away in a notebook he had brought with him, jotting down notes from his conversations with the four strangely kind young adults and the one little girl. He didn't want to forget anything or lose track of any important details.

Evie was trying to figure out how to get enough food for six out of what she had found for four adults and one little kid, Carlos had gone home to do something for his mother to try and avoid being screamed at, and Jay had gone rummaging for things to sell in the junk shop. Mal was watching Ben with interest, trying to figure out what on earth he could be writing about.

Ben felt someone watching him, so he looked up, only to meet Mal's eyes. Unlike most people would have, she didn't look away shyly, she continued to look at him intently. Ben could not help but notice that she had very beautiful green eyes that he could tell had seen so much, yet somehow glinted with an almost childlike innocence.

"Is something wrong?" Ben asked her, as gently and softly as he could muster with him being as confused as he was.

She didn't say anything for a moment, but then asked, "What are you writing?"

"I'm taking notes." he explained.

"Why?"

"I want to remember everything you and your friends tell me so when I get back to Auradon, I'll have a record of what needs to be fixed here."

Mal looked confused. "But why do you want to fix here?"

"Because you do not deserve to live in this kind of situation."

"But we're evil."

Ben's eyes flicked down to the innocent little girl stretched across Mal's legs for a split second. The tiny little thing that had not a shred of malice in her entire being. "No, you're not. Your parents were. Not you. You haven't done anything wrong."

"We steal," Mal said. "That's bad."

"That's only because you need to to survive. People aren't inherently evil. It isn't genetic like skin tone or hair color. Being evil, well, that's just all you know. This is a place that reinforces everything my father wanted to stamp out of all the villains but couldn't do it." Even if Mal had done something bad, he couldn't imagine it being truly evil. She certainly didn't seem capable of murder or anything like that. Stealing and the like was the only way to survive on the Isle it seemed. She had a child to feed and take care of and what Auradonians could see as going too far was the only thing they could do to keep themselves alive. He pitied the Isle residents, but pity would do nothing for them. And he was driven to give these crooked criminals, these broken souls, a second chance.

Mal still looked perplexed. They were evil. They were born and raised evil. Ben couldn't be implying that they were good underneath everything, could he?

Ben studied Mal's face and the words of his mother floated into his mind. _There's good in everyone, my love. Sometimes it is just hard to find. You just have to dig for it in some people, like you would dig for treasure on the beach. Sometimes they will not believe the treasure is right there in them, but it is. And once you and they find it and believe it, everything changes. And your heart will be as full as it will ever be. Your father changed when I touched the good inside of him, Ben. And if a Beast can change back into a man, everyone else deserves a second chance too._

Melanie stirred a bit and rolled over onto her back, blinking open her eyes. "Mama," she mumbled sleepily, rubbing her eyes with her hands.

"Did we wake you up, baby?" Mal asked her, tearing her eyes from Ben and sounding apologetic. She brushed back a stray strand of brown hair from her daughter's forehead.

"Uh-uh," Melanie replied before coughing. "I'm awake. I've been awake."

Mal chuckled a little. "Okay,"

Melanie stood up next to her mother and kissed Mal on the nose. Mal smiled and touched her forehead to her daughter's and Melanie wrapped her arms around Mal's neck in a hug. "My sweet girl," Mal said softly, hugging her back.

Ben was surprised at this display of affection. It meant that such a thing happened all the time, and that Melanie had learned this act of affection from Mal or one of the others. For someone who couldn't seem to believe she was nothing more than evil, it was the exact opposite of what one would expect to witness when she interacted with her child.

Melanie let go of Mal's neck and said something so quietly that Ben could not hear it, and Mal nodded, urging her to continue whatever she was speaking about. Melanie kept talking, having visible difficulty with the pronunciation with a few words. Every time she got to a word she wasn't saying right Mal would repeat it to her slowly. Those words Ben could hear.

"Especially," Mal said slowly. Presumably, Melanie repeated it and continued, until she got tripped up again at a different word.

Ben went back to his notes, writing about what he had just seen and wishing he had paid more attention in psychology class at school. He desperately wanted to know what made Mal and Melanie the way they were. Scared, timid, and quiet to the outside world, but kind, unendingly sweet, and affectionate with each other, all the while Mal thinking she was inherently villainous. It was all very bizarre. He didn't want to reduce them to a scientific study, but he was curious about them. He wanted to observe them to help them.

"I think I worked it out." Evie announced, coming back into the room. "Who's hungry?"

* * *

 ** _A/N: Thank you for reading! I really appreciate it! Please let me know what you think!_**


	10. Chapter 10

_**Woohoo! Chapter 10! Wow!**_

 _ **Sorry for the very long break! It's well into summer now, so I hope I'll have more time to write! Who's excited about Descendants 2? I Know I am!**_

 _ **Please enjoy!**_

* * *

Ben had been on the Isle for nearly a week and he has seen a lot. The four friends had compiled a list of all the places he should see during his time on the Isle, and he had been to nearly every place in the past handful of days. To keep him safe, Evie had put together a disguise of sorts so it would be harder to tell he was, in fact, the son of the man who had doomed every Isle resident's future. Carlos had helped her and he had also went along with Ben as he visited each place with Jay.

Evie stayed back with Mal and Melanie each time. Melanie wasn't exactly feeling well and Mal had been having a string of nightmares that terrfied her and the last thing she wanted was to be alone. The blue-haired girl had no qualms about stying back to look after both of them. Jay was extra cautious about either of the girls being dark anyway. He never let Evie walk home alone and often hovered near Bargain Castle for at least half an hour when he took Mal home. If he took Mal home. Not once since Ben had arrived did Mal ever go home. She and Melanie stayed at the litle shack. Ben was staying there too. And Jay did as well.

"No offense, princey boy, but I'm not leaving my girls alone overnight with some guy we hardly know. Even if you are trying to help us." Jay had told him the first night after returning from making sure both Evie and Carlos made it home alright. "And don't you dare try anything funny. If you try to make a run for it, you'll be done for out there alone. That is if I don't kill you first." He said, fingering a knife in his pocket, He had said it with such a serious tone, King Triton would've been worried for his life. Ben didn't say a word. He had just nodded. Good guy or not, Ben was certain Jay had a reason to be weary of him. Strange guys and pretty girls didn't always mix well in Auradon either.

A small part of Ben couldn't get over how Jay had called Melanie and Mal 'my girls'. Perhaps that was another reason Jay didn't like him being around Mal by himself. Jay and Mal were a couple and Melanie was their daughter. It seemed far fetched considering the only affection Mal ever gave was to her little girl and she seemed rather timid even around Jay. But out of the other three young adults, Jay seemed the most attentive to Melanie and the most physically protective of Mal. By Auradon standards, they weren't a couple. They couldn't be. But things were different on the Isle. So maybe they were. Ben wasn't quite so sure why he was so concerned with the realtionship status of these people he had just recently met, but he was. The fact that his hypothesis was neither confirmed or denied in 6 days was driving him crazy, but coming right out and asking was rude.

On their way back from Ursula's shop where Ben had the unfortunate pleasures of meeting the villan's daughter Uma and starting to reek like fish, Ben decided to ask Jay a question.

"Jay?"

"Yeah?" Jay asked him, casually. Jay had only ever sounded so serious with Ben that one time. Every other time they had spoken, Jay had been light, friendly, and funny.

Carlos was on Ben's other side. He was headed home. Jay never walked him to his doorstep like he did with the girl's. Carlos turned down a street and Jay hesistaed at the turn for a little until Carlos' figure had disappeared into the darkness down before Cruella's house. Carlos wasn't supposed to know about that. His turn wasn't for a bit farther along yet, so he was still with Jay and Ben.

"Can I ask you something?"

"Yeah,"

"Why do you walk the Evie home?" Ben was genuinely curious. "She's lived here all her life. Don't you think she can make it home by herself?"

"Yeah. I'm sure she could. She might be kind of on the small side, but she's tough. Tougher than most guys that were in our grade I'm sure."

"Yeah," Carlos agreed, chuckiling. "You don't want to get on her bad side."

"But I'm going to keep doing it anyway."

"Then why walk her home?" Ben pressed again. "Isn't that going out of your way?"

Jay tensed. He hadn't thought Ben would be so curious about. "After what happened, I'm not taking chances." He said in a dark tone.

"What happened? Did someone hurt Evie before?"

Jay stopped in his tracks and pointed a finger at Ben's chest, startiling the young king. Carlos stepped back, out of Jay's wrath. "Listen Ben. You're a nice guy but you ask way too many questions some times. Fact of the matter is, I walk Evie home. What happened and why is none of your goddamn business. I guess walking girls home at night isn't done back in Auradon, but it is here. By me. You don't get to hear everything just because you're taking notes to bring back home to Mommy and Daddy, okay?"

Ben was sure his eyes were as wide as dinner plates. "S-sorry," he stammered out, face bright red. It wasn't the first time his curious nature got him chewed out by someone, but that didn't mean it was any less frightening.

Jay nodded, eyes narrow. "And don't you go asking the girls."

"I-I won't." Ben promised him.

Jay started walking forward abruptly. Carlos followed. After a second, so did Ben.

By the time they returned back to the little shack, Carlos had gone home. Melanie was asleep on a pile of blankets on the floor. Mal was drawing with a broken pencil in an old sketchbook, both from Auradon trash boats. Evie was sewing something that, at the moment, resembled a green pillow case. The sound of the door opening brought Evie and Mal's attention to the boys.

"Ready, Evie?"

"Mm? Yeah gimmie a sec." She replied, quickly finishing her stich and tying it off. She tucked her work into a basket she kept on a shelf. "Melanie's a good girl, but she is only four." Evie had explained to Ben the previous night.

She tugged her jacket on and knelt down next to Melanie, kissing her forehead. She looked to Mal, "Are you sure you don't want me to stay? I can. If there's one person I'd tell my mom to stick it for, you know it's you."

"I'm sure." Mal replied, with an uneasy smile. "Go home. I'm okay."

Evie reached out and squeeed Mal's arm. "See you tomorrow, M."

"Bye," Mal replied.

Evie rose to her full height. "Goodnight Ben," she said with a kind smile as she passed.

"Goodnight Evie."

"I'll be right back," Jay told Mal, who nodded in reply and then returned to her work.

Jay sent Ben a very pointed look before he shut the door behind himself and Evie.

It was quiet, save for the light scratching sounds Mal's pencil made on the paper.

Ben had never seen her draw before. He approached her slowly, from in front of her. He stopped a foot or two away from her and knelt down. "What are you drawing?"

She looked up at him, pencil poised over the paper. She looked a little shy and her voice was quiet. "...you,"

"Me?" he asked, amazed. "Why?"

"You're... nice to us." She said, as if it explained the phenomenon.

"May I see it?"

She bit her lip and looked down. After a second of hesitation, she turned the sketchbook around. "I'm sorry. It's not very good..."

"What are you talking about? This is... wow..." Ben was speechless. It was one of the most detailed, beautiful sketches he had ever seen. "Did you teach yourself how to do this?"

She nodded.

"It's incredible."

"You like it?"

"Yeah, I do." It was impressive for anyone, but especially a self-taught artist.

Mal smiled. A real smile.

"I'm going to have to get some good art supplied for you at some point. You can't continue drawing like this on someone else's garbage."

"It was barely used before I found it." she said.

He shook his head and rolled is eyes. "My people waste so much. Well, I'll get you new stuff any how." Do you have more in here?"

"Mhm," she agreed.

"Do you mind if I look?"

"You can,"

He flipped through her sketches slowly, admiring each one. There were drawings of the house, her house, Evie, Jay, Carlos, and many of Melanie. "These are... fantastic, Mal. You're really talented."

She looked down and her face looked like it was tinged pink. "Thank you,"

"You're welcome." He flipped back to the page she was working on and slid it back to her. She smiled again and returned to her work. He want back to the corner he had set up in and opened a book.

Jay came back a few minutes later, and Mal seemed to take this as time to get ready for bed. Before she settled in next to Melanie, she came over to Ben and handed him a small piece of paper. "Goodnight, Ben," she said softly.

"Good night, Mal." he replied with a smile.

Mal went back to Melanie's side and lay down.

Jay sent a look Ben's way before laying down himself.

Ben looked down at the piece of paper Mal had handed him. She had drawn his family crest as it appeared on his jacket. He smiled and tucked it carefully between pages of his book before setting it down for the night.

Ben had never met a single person like Mal in his life.

* * *

 _ **A/N: I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! What do you think is going to happen now? Do you think Ben will ever find out if Jay and Mal are a couple? How will he find out if he does? I'd love to hear your thoughts! Thanks for reading!**_


	11. Chapter 11

_**This is the longest chapter yet! I was considering splitting it in half, but I don't think there's a good spot to do that.**_

 _ **I'm gonna start trying to weave some Descendants 2 characters into the background when appropriate.**_

 _ **There's a lot in this chapter.**_

 _ **Dark subjects and language warning.**_

* * *

If there was one thing Mal didn't quite understand, it was socializing. She wasn't very good at talking to people. At least, not anymore. Not since she had Melanie.

It could be argued that she really didn't really know how to do that before Melanie's birth either. She was mouthy and loud when she was younger, and though Uma and Maddy and Jay could be considered childhood companions from various points of her young life, most of her relationships with others consisted of bossing other kids around, yelling, fighting, and stealing from others. But, as a child, especially one who lived on the Isle, that sort of behavior was acceptable so it wasn't anything concerning. Evie had said once that Melanie came along at a crucial point in development, so Mal's own development had been put on hold to care for the little girl as best as she could manage.

Mal was essentially five years behind where she should have been mentally because of all the traumatic things that had happened to her. After hanging around with them for a few years, she was able to tell when Carlos, Jay, and Evie spoke to her like she was thirteen and when they spoke to her like she was nineteen. They were never quite certain what kind of response they would get either way, but they did switch back and forth based on Mal's recent behaviors, whether they knew it or not. Sometimes, it was obvious that Mal wouldn't be able to handle something a 19 year old should be able to, sometimes it was. But sometimes, they'd say something and Mal would fumble for words, or look at them confused, or ask them to explain because the question they asked 19 year old Mal went to 13 year old Mal instead. Less often, but sometimes, one of them would say something middle schooler appropriate, only to receive an astoundingly articulate and/or quick witted response.

Mal couldn't really control how or what her brain would process at any given moment, but she was very aware that she flip flopped between what sometimes seemed like two polar opposites. And it drove her crazy. She tended to think through things like an adult, but her behaviors, actions and words, were ofen that of a child. Once, trying to express her frustration about her own predicament to Evie, Mal had said "everything gets all squished up in my head" and that her body wasn't always "listening to my thinking". Evie had nodded a bit, trying to follow her words, but Mal, frustrated from her words not coming out the way she had intended, retreated back into her corner, as it was the only thing she knew how to do.

Jay had said once that Mealnie had made Mal soft. She didn't yell about anything anymore, she wasn't bossy, nor was she comfortable being noticed. She was quiet and rather shy. "Twelve year old me wouldn't recognize her," Jay had insisted to Evie.

Truth be told, Mal lived in an almost state of fear at this point her life, and staying quiet and sticking to corners let her observe her surroundings. Hugging walls allowed to feel somewhat safe, but she was always, _always_ looking for a way out. Trying to explain that to her friends seemed like it would be more difficult than it was worth, so she had never tried. Soon after Melanie was born, she was still a bit of a spitfire, but within the first few weeks of having a baby, she had closed in on herself and it was entirely out of her control.

Since Ben had come, her brain had been more all over the place than usual. She wasn't sure why. And she didn't know why she wanted to talk to him. Most people, especially males, frightened her. But Ben really didn't. He was very nice and he never got too close to her or Melanie. Melanie was curious about him, but she wasn't scared either. It was surprising.

Mal had decided on a whim to draw Ben's family crest and give it to him after he compimented her drawings. She wasn't sure what he did with it, but she hoped he liked it.

Melanie hardly left Mal's lap the day after Mal gave Ben the drawing. Her cough was worse when she woke up and she was completely exhausted. Unfortunatley, there wasn't too much they could do for her except have her rest and drink water. Vivian had unfortunately left years ago when the nursing program fell apart and took the ability to get medicine with her. Mal was rocking Melanie a little and it seemed as if the little brunette was fighting sleep hard, her thumb in her mouth. Mal herself was a little out of it from her recent string of nightmares. The previous night had been kind to her, but she was still drained.

Carlos hadn't come by the house yet, Jay had woken up early and gone back to his father's shop, and Evie was also yet to come by. It was just Mal, Melanie, and Ben. Ben was reading, but every time Melanie coughed, he looked to the little girl and her mother. It broke his heart that he couldn't do anything to help. A coughing little girl was not worthy of pressing that blue button on the remote and he knew that, but part of him still wanted to.

Evie knocked before she entered the house, bringing both Mal and Ben's attention to the door.

"Good morning," Evie greeted quietly, having noticed Melanie was close to sleep. "How are you, Mal?"

Mal shrugged.

"And Melanie?"

"Worse," Mal replied, looking down at her daughter.

"Does she have a fever?"

Mal shook her head.

"That's good at least. Let's hope it stays that way."

Mal nodded.

"Is Jay here? Or Carlos?"

"No, why?"

"A boat with some art stuff is set to come in soon. I was going to ask if you'd come with me, but they aren't here to keep an eye on Melanie."

"I... can watch her if you want." Ben offered hesitantly. "You should go see what's on that boat. I can keep an eye on her."

Both Mal and Evie looked to him, looking as if they didn't quite believe him.

"If it's okay, of course. I-I've babysat before..."

Mal looked to Evie.

"I think we can trust him. But it's your choice, M. She's your kid." This was a huge thing if Mal chose to leave Mealnie with Ben. She rarely left Melanie with even Evie.

Mal looked back to Melanie and to Ben. "Would you?"

"Of course,"

Mal looked at Melanie. "Is it okay if I leave you with Ben, baby? Evie and Mama will be right back."

Melanie nodded a little before coughing.

"Okay,"

Melanie stood up slowly, out of Mal's lap and Evie frantically tried to grab her so she wouldn't topple over in her state of exhaustion, but Melanie slowly made her way over to Ben, who was putting his things away. He didn't even notice her coming over until she pulled on his sleeve. He looked up in surprise and she sat right in his lap. Ben was surprised, but greeted her with a cheerful hello and leaned back against the wall.

Mal and Evie were absolutely dumbstruck. Evie chalked it up to Melanie being sick, but Mal was flat out surprised by her daughter's behavior. Mal came over to Ben and kissed Melanie on the head and thanked Ben, promising both of them she would be back soon. With another glance over her shoulder, Mal left with Evie.

Melanie started coughing again and Ben sat her up a little, in hopes it would help some. He wasn't sure if it did or not. After she recovered from her coughing fit, he started to rock her like he had seen Mal do and shortly after, she fell asleep on him. Her breathing sounded a little ragged, and he felt terrible for her. She was very cute though, regardless of being sick. She was rather tiny for four, soft brown waves fell past her shoulders, and she was wearing a pale green nightshirt that she swam in. Her thumb had made it's way back to her mouth. He felt very content with Melanie asleep on him. He had always wanted kids, and as he was getting older that want did nothing but increase. He absolutely adored children.

He couldn't keep himself from trying to find Jay in Melanie's features, but as hard as he tried, he simply couldn't. She looked almost like a little clone of Mal. It frustrated him that he still didn't know for sure either way if Jay was Melanie's dad and he wasn't sure why, except he kind of did. If he had done his math right, Melanie was born when Mal was fourteen. And Jay was older than her. The idea simply didn't sit right with Ben. Fourteen was very young, young enough for decsion making skills to not be the greatest. And Mal was small. Strong as she may have been, Jay was bigger than she was.

Perhaps it wasn't a decision at all.

The very thought made Ben sick to his stomach. Jay seemed much too nice to do something like that, but he couldn't be certain. How twisted if he made her stay, make her keep Melanie, and only sort of help her but be nice to them anyway. Maybe Jay wasn't usually this nice to Mal or anyone. Maybe it was because Ben was there. Maybe his apparent protectiveness over the girls and was possesiveness instead.

That would account for Mal's cautious and timid behavior.

Ben shook his head to try to clear the thoughts. He wasn't about to jump to conclusions from a loose possibility. He had no reason to believe any of that. The only thing he knew for sure was that Mal had been the age of an eighth or ninth grader when Melanie was born.

The door opened and Jay stepped into the room, Carlos just behind. Jay's eyes narrowed as they fell on Ben holding Melanie.

"Where are the girls?" Jay asked in a hot whisper.

"Evie took Mal to a boat that came in. It's got art stuff on it."

"And why do you have Melanie?"

"You guys weren't here, so I offered to watch her while they went." Ben replied calmly.

"Mal hardly trusts Evie alone with that baby most days. How did you manage to convince her to leave her with you?"

"I asked, she said yes."

"Well, we're here now."

Ben nodded.

"That means, I'll take her."

Carlos spoke up then. "You really wanna wake her so you can hold her? Evie will kick your ass if she finds out you woke her up for no good reason."

Jay sighed. "You're right, dude." He looked back to Ben before sitting, "I'm watching you."

Carlos rolled his eyes. He went over to whatever he had been tinkering with the previous day and started to work on it again.

Around an hour later, the girls returned, both smiling widely. They came bearing almost new paints and pencils and sketchbooks and Evie had loads of fabric and thread.

"Successful, I see." Carlos said to them in greeting.

"Best boat in a long time," Evie agreed, setting things down. She started looking through her haul.

Mal put her things down and immediatley went to where Ben was holding her little girl.

"She slept the whole time," Ben told her quietly.

Mal smiled softly and crouched down to stroke her daughter's hair back from her face. Melanie stirred and woke with a cough. "Mama," she said quietly, holding her arms up.

Mal pulled Melanie into her arms. She curled right into Mal's side.

"Thank you again," Mal told Ben.

"Of course," he replied.

Mal carried Melanie to their corner and set her down on her feet, still holding her at the waist. She murmured something to Melanie, who nodded, rubbing at her eyes. Mal took her by the hand and led her to the other room.

"Well that's a good sign." Evie said, looking after the mother-daughter pair.

"Hm?" questioned Carlos.

"Mal just took Melanie to the bathroom."

"Oh, good."

"Is that... not normal?" Ben asked curiously.

"Melanie is a little reluctant to uh, well..." Evie trailed off.

"Let's just say, it's a bit of a celebration around here everytime there's no need to change a diaper." Carlos said.

Ben nodded. He did remember that, actually. They said one of the reasons Melanie wasn't in school was because of that. Four was typically plenty old enough to be out of diapers, but such a stressful, frightening lifestyle could definitley mess with that. And besides that, if Ben didn't know Melanie was four, he probably would've guessed she was three, maybe even two, just based on size alone. She was very small.

A few moments later, Mal came back into the room with Melanie on her hip.

"Well?" Evie asked.

Mal bounced Melanie once, making the little girl laugh. Mal kissed Melanie's head. Ben wasn't sure he had heard Melanie laugh before that.

"Yeah?" Evie asked.

"Yeah," Mal replied.

"Yay!" Evie cheered, clapping her hands together. She held her hand out to the little girl for a high five, which Melanie eagerly returned. Melanie reached out for Evie, who took the girl into her arms.

Carlos came up and ruffled Melanie's hair and Jay tickled her.

Melanie looked much more awake now. Evie waved Mal away and asked Melanie to pick her favorite fabric. Carlos returned to his tinkering, Jay returned to sorting stolen trinkets. Mal went to test her new paints.

Evie was chatting away to Melanie about sewing, and Carlos and Mal were totally engrossed in their projects, and ben was reading when Jay came up to him. "Can I talk to you outside for a minute?"

Ben nodded and out his book down. He followed Jay outside.

"Listen bro, I don't know if you noticed but Mal isn't in the best place mentally and, well, I think it'd be best if you left before she gets too attached to you."

"What?"

"She clearly is comfortable enough to leave her kid with you, Ben. She talks to you and stuff. She's getting attached. She doesn't get attached to people easily, but when she does, it's... it won't be pretty if you leave once she gets to that point."

"But-"

"And I'm not an idiot. I see the way you look at her and I think she does too. And I..." Jay took a deep breath. "I'd really like it if you didn't break her heart."

"I'm confused."

"C'mon, Ben. I know Mal's a pretty girl. I know you think she's pretty too."

"What does that have to do with anything?" Jay wasn't following a cohesive train of thought and Ben was kind of lost.

"You can't... I don't want you to get any closer to her. I don't want you to break her heart, Ben. She's not... she might be almost nineteen on the outside, but she's like thirteen in her head. I don't want you two to get close enough that she thinks something's going to happen, or something does happen, and then you leave her. She's not capable of handling that. She'll be heartbroken if you hurt her. You being here... it's not good for her."

Ben was kind of angry. Why on Earth did Jay seem to think Ben had intentions of starting something with Mal? Ceratinly she was pretty, but he wasn't ready to date yet. He had broken up with Audrey, daughter of Aurora, just a few weeks back. And he certainly didn't want to hurt Mal by doing just what Jay seemed to be suggesting he would do. Why was it bad Mal felt comfortable with him? Wasn't that a good thing? Unless... unless he was being possesive.

Ben couldn't help his reply from tumbling out of his mouth. "What gives you the right to decide what's good for her or not?"

"Excuse me?" Jay's tone was harsh.

Ben instantly regretted his words, but now, now he couldn't stop. He had his father's temper sometimes. "You heard me. You said yourself she's nineteen. She's grown. Say I had intentions of dating her or something, which I don't considering I've only known her for a week, she's old enough to make her own decisions."

"She's old enough but she can't! She's got the brain of a kid."

"Do you know that for sure?"

"Of course I do."

"Does she really have the mental capacity of a child or do you just want to keep treating her like she does so no one else can get close to her?"

"What are you implying?" Jay got closer to Ben, very close. He was very threatening when he wanted to be. And he was done being nice.

"That you aren't trying to protect her. You're trying to keep her away from the rest of the world."

"I am trying to protect her. She had a kid at fourteen! She's had it rough and I don't need some snot-nosed prince telling me what to do about my girls."

" _King_ ,"

"What?"

"I'm your king,"

Jay snorted. "You aren't my king."

"Whether you choose to accept it or not, I am." Ben replied, hating how snobbish he sounded. "And what makes Mal and Melanie your girls?"

"Because they're my girls."

"So Melanie's yours?"

Jay narrowed his eyes. "You think I'm that screwed up that I'd touch that girl at the age of four-freaking-teen?"

"I don't hear you denying it."

"I'm not some monster. Melanie is not my kid and I've never touched anyone like that, least of all Mal."

"Somebody had to and considering how possevive you seem to be over her, I figured it must have been you."

"You sick fuck!" Jay shouted.

Ben's pride would not let him back down. "Why don't you let Mal make her own choices instead of cooercing her into what you think she can handle and treating her like she's a little kid?"

"She's... she can't function as an adult. She's not capable!"

"How is she going to if you don't let her?" Ben knew he was over-exagerating, but king or not, wrong or right, he was eighteen and he didn't take kindly to being called names.

"She's a fucking kid, Ben! A baby. You think she can function here in the real world alone? She can't deal! She can't process stuff like we can! Sometimes she can't even answer questions! She can hardly take care of herself, let alone Melanie. She's a kid herself and you think she can manage without help? Tough luck. We lost the real Mal years ago. That girl in there? She's not Mal. She hasn't been Mal since she had that baby. If I could go back in time and kill the kid, I'd do it in a heart beat. It'd be better if she were dead. At least I'd only have one baby to take care of instead of two! That worthless little brat took my only friend away from me and I'll never forgive her for it. She took my friend and left me a nineteen year old baby! And I think I happen to know what's best for her, considering."

"I'm not a baby," said a firm voice.

Ben and Jay both turned to look at the door of the little shack. There stood Mal in the doorway, looking extremely angry. Her hands were balled into fists and her expression was one Ben didn't she was even capable of making. Beside her stood Evie looking stormy and behind them, Carlos stood baffled, Melanie's face pressed into his shoulder, hands over her ears. Had they been that loud?

Mal walked over to Jay. "Nobody asked you to take care of me. I never asked. I never said I needed you. I was fully prepared to manage just fine on my own. I was going to figure it out, just as I managed to figure everything out before my daughter was born. I never asked for your help."

Jay's eyes were wide. Mal had heard everything he said.

"And if you say one more thing about the little girl who saved my life, you'll be wishing someone saved yours."

"Mal, I-"

"You don't get to talk about her like that," she growled. "You don't get to talk about wanting her dead and expect me not to be pissed at you."

"I didn't mean it like that! Ben was... he-"

"He was asking questions. You were the one screaming at him. You said it'd be better for you if my kid was dead, if you had killed her. And what about me then, huh? Why don't I get a say in my life? Why isn't it important to you that that little girl you called a worthless brat is the reason I'm still here? Do you know how many times I got close before her? Do you know how many times I stood at the edge of the cliff, looking at the ocean, how often I stood in the doorway to my kitchen looking at the knives, how often I tried to take Melanie with me? Do you know how many scars I have on my arms?" Mal pushed up her jacket sleeves, revealing jagged scars and what looked to be old scratches. Ben's heart absolutely shattered. Jay looked close to tears. "You know what I haven't done since that little girl was born? Anything. I've thought about it, sure. I still do. But I haven't acted on a single thought since she was born. She... she became my reason to live..." Mal was facing away from Ben, but he heard her voice shake. She was near tears. "I need her, Jay. I did then and I still do. She's the only good thing that's ever happened to me and I'm sorry that her existence is such a huge inconvience to you, but she's everything to me."

Jay looked down to his shoes. Ben was afraid. Afraid of this side of Mal he didn't know was possible. Afraid of all the things Mal had ever done to herself. Afraid of what would happen if Jay opened his mouth to Mal. Afraid of what he himself had started.

"And for your information, I am quite capable of making my own choices and I'm not stupid. I'm an adult and wha t I choose to do, or not do, involving Melanie or ben or anyone is none of your business." And sarcastically she added, "But I appreciate your input."

Jay took a deep breath, looked up and Mal, and then turned and began to walk away. Mal stood like a statue for a moment, before absolutely crumpling to the ground. The sound of her sobs made Ben feel like he was about to break in two.

Evie rushed to her friend and enveloped her in her arms. After a few moments, Mal's sobs turned to sniffles. And then it was quiet. Melanie had looked up from Carlos' shoulder, tear tracks down her face. Carlos looked stunned. Ben couldn't move.

Evie whispered something to Mal. Mal nodded, wiped her eyes and stood up. She turned to Ben. "Can I talk to you for a minute?"

"Of course," Ben replied, shaking himself from his state of shock.

* * *

 _ **A/N: Well, goodness. That got a lot darker than I anticipated. I would really appreciate your thoughts and feedback on this one.**_

 _ **I've noticed that when people argue, things go out of proportion quickly. Jay's a little cocky and Ben probably has some of Adam's temper. Not a good mix. And what'd you think of Mal this chapter?**_

 _ **Thank you so much for reading!**_


	12. Chapter 12

_**Hi everyone! I will keep this nice and short. I will try to start incorporating some minor stuff from Descendants 2 into this if and when I can.**_

 _ **Please enjoy this chapter.**_

* * *

"Ma-mama?" Melanie asked in a timid voice, reaching out towards Mal with both her arms. Carlos had to hold her tighter to prevent her from falling out of his hold from leaning forward.

Mal glanced at Ben before walking over to where her friends were standing. She took her little girl from Carlos' arms.

"Are you mad at Jay, Mama?" Melanie asked.

"Yes," Mal replied. She forced a small smile for Melanie's sake. "But don't worry. Everything is okay."

Melanie was skeptical. "Promise?"

"Promise," the young mother replied, kissing Melanie on the forehead.

"Don't cry anymore. Please?"

Mal cuddled the child closer. "Okay, baby. I won't cry anymore."

Melanie kissed Mal on the nose, bringing forth a real smile to Mal's face. "Sweet girl,"

Melanie smiled at that.

"I'm have to talk to Ben. Will you stay with Evie and Carlos?"

"Yes,"

"Listen to them, okay?"

"I will,"

Mal pressed another kiss to Melanie's head before passing her to Evie. "I'll be back soon,"

"No hurry," Evie replied. "Take as long as you need."

Mal nodded.

Carlos reached for Mal's hand and she watched it with suspicion until he took it to give it a comforting squeeze. She smiled at him before heading back to Ben.

"Follow me," she said softly, heading for a quiet place she knew of away from the shack. The confidence in her voice had slipped away and it was once again nearing timid. Ben followed her to an ally way not far away from the shack and watched as she leaned, almost sagged, against the crumbling brick wall of a building. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She didn't speak yet, so Ben took it as an opprotunity.

"I'm so sorry, Mal. I'm so sorry that I made a discussion escalate. It wasn't my intention at all. Jay, just, he asked me to leave. And I didn't-I don't want to. And then my... my temper got the best of me. I didn't mean to make him angry... or you upset."

Mal's eyes popped open in surprise. "He asked you to leave? Why?"

"So I... I wouldn't lead you on, I guess."

"What does that mean?" Mal questioned.

"He said you were going to get attached to me and if I stuck around for much longer before leaving, you'd be heartbroken because you aren't... mature enough to handle it, I guess." Ben finsihed lamely with a shrug.

Mal scowled and kicked at the ground. "I'm plenty mature enough. I just... it isn't... sometimes it doesn't seem like it. Stuff... gets stuck and... crumbled."

"That's what I was getting at. But it spiraled out of control faster than I could save it."

"Why would I be heartbroken over you leaving? You haven't been here long."

Ben wondered how he could word it without sounding too forward. "Jay was concerned that if I lead you to believe I liked you and then I left..."

"Don't you?" Mal asked suddenly.

"Don't I what?"

"Don't you like me?" Mal looked so innocent just then, sorry worried about not being liked. So much younger than nineteen, but Ben knew what she was capable of. She did, however, mean like in the most innocent way possible.

"Of course I like you! You've been nothing but nice to me since I came here." Ben promised. "That's... not what Jay meant exactly..."

"What'd he mean then?"

"He thinks I like you. Like... _like_ like you," the king explained, feeling suddenly transported to middle school. There really wasn't a better way to explain it.

"Oh..." Mal trailed off. She looked thoughtful. "And you don't."

She sounded hurt to Ben, so he flustered for the right thing to say. All that came out was stuttering.

"Don't bother, Ben. It's okay." Mal told him plainly. "You don't have to try to explain yourself out of that. It's fine. It doesn't bother me, I swear. No one wants me anyway."

"Don't say that, I'm someone does. You just haven't found him- or her- yet."

Mal chuckled darkly. "That's cute."

"What?"

"No one wants to be with a girl who," she stopped abruptly and looked away from Ben. "Who had a kid."

"I'm sure someone would. Anyone who doesn't like Melanie is... is out of their mind. She's precious."

Mal heaved a sigh and shook her head. "Ben, I was thirteen when I got pregnant. You don't think that was my choice, do you?"

"No, I don't." Ben replied gently. He hadn't expected the conversation to turn this way just then, but he was not about to redirect it.

"It-it wasn't Jay. But he knew him- them-"

"Them?" Ben interrupted.

"There were three of them. But I know exactly which one of them is Melanie's father. I see him everytime I look at her."

Ben wanted to say _But how? Melanie looks exactly like you!_ But he held his tongue. This was not the time.

"Some days, more than others." Mal continued, sounding like each word physically pained her. It probably did, Ben figured. To say things like this to almost a total stranger took an immense amount of courage. "I still haven't figured out w-why they came after me... I was just trying to get home and out of the rain..." She shuddered at the thought. Rainy nights were her worst nights.

She trailed off and Ben didn't say anything. He was waiting for her to choose to continue or not. His heart was already shattered for her. He wanted nothing more than to hold her, to protect her, and promise everything would be okay. This girl had been through so much and was standing in front of him to tell her story. She was so strong. He wondered if she had any idea how much strength she held within her.

Still facing away from him, she continued. "I didn't sleep for weeks. Everything hurt. I felt like I was drowning. I forced myself to go to school for the normalcy of it, but the only thing I did there was what I did at home... trying to figure out the fastest way to stop drowning. I got close so many times..." Mal rubbed her arms up and down and she inhaled a sharp breath. "When I found out I was pregnant, I figured having a baby was a death sentence. I decided it was probably best to get there first. But I could never do it. I couldn't do it. I chickened out." Her legs all but gave out from under her and she slipped down the wall, ending up sitting on the ground. "And then Melanie was born. I thought I was going to die. I should've died. Somehow, I didn't.

"For some reason, I lived. She gave me a reason to live. I owe her my life." Mal's voice cracked and she sniffled. "She's my everything. I still feel like I'm drowning sometimes and sometimes I still wonder if I could end it. But then I look at that little girl and... she... keeps me here."

Ben came up behind her slowly and knelt next to her. "I'm glad you're here."

Mal didn't look up at him, her eyes were focused in front of her, at nothing. She continued. "Jay... he saved us. He didn't have to. I didn't ask him to. But he did. He took us to the nurse. And then he told me he beat the living daylights out of Melanie's father and his friends. He saved me, but more importantly he saved Melanie. He was always so good to us, to her... He helped me. Why... why would he say he wished she was dead?"

"I don't think he meant it, Mal. He was upset."

Mal shook her head and wiped her eyes. "You don't say something like that without meaning it."

"I'm sorry,"

"It's not your fault Jay-"

"No," Ben cut her off. "I'm sorry all of that happened to you. I'm sorry you were stuck here. I'm sorry no one could help you. I'm sorry my father decided this was the best way to do things because it just isn't fair. I wish... I wish I could've done something earlier..."

Mal turned to look at him and studied his face.

"Is there anything I can do for you?"

Mal twitched before throwing her arms around him in a tight hug. He barely had enough time to reciprocate before she pulled away. She leaned away from him.

She didn't touch people other than Melanie. She didn't like it, but she felt like she had to hug him. This boy who actually wanted to listen to her. It had felt wrong on her skin, almost like tingles, the unpleasant sort, so she pulled away instantly.

Mal didn't look at him again. Ben was deeply touched that she had decided he was trustworthy and deserving enough of a hug. Her walls were still up and they were high, with every reason to be that way, but that quick embrace had shown him a crack in those walls. He didn't think they've ever come all the way down, but he felt honored to see a glimpse of whatever happened to be behind them.

Mal was different than most people. She was shattered, but it was only one part of what Ben knew was a beautiful, sensitive, loving soul. He felt so drawn to her. He had never wanted to let her go when he managed to hold her for a fraction of a second. She was incredible, wonderful. She was special. He had never wanted to be closer to a person before. He wanted to get to know her better. He wanted to take her somewhere she could talk to people, to get help, to be happy. He didn't know if helping her to that extent was possible, but he wanted to try. Either way, he wanted to protect her and love her for as long as he could.

Ben spoke, breaking the silence that had settled over the two of them. "I can't leave you here."

"You can't stay forever." Mal replied sadly, still facing away from him. "You're king."

"Then come home with me. You and Melanie." They could live in the castle. He could keep them safe. He could love them. They deserved to be loved and he wanted to love them.

"I can't."

"I'm not leaving yet." Ben promised her. "I have a few weeks. Will you think about it?"

"I can't leave..."

"Promise me you'll think about it."

"I promise."

After a few moments, Mal rose to her feet. "I'm going to go back."

Ben stood then as well, but looked unsure as if he should join her.

"You're one of us now." Mal said as an answer before starting back towards the little house. Ben was close behind.

"Mal?"

Mal looked over at him as they walked on.

Ben heaved a deep breath. "I think I like like you... is that okay?"

Mal's mouth curved up just the tiniest bit, but she didn't say a word before looking back in front of her.

* * *

 _ **A/N: What did you think of this chapter? Do you think Jay is going to come apologize? I'd love to read**_

 _ **your predictions and thoughts!**_

 _ **Also: What did everyone think of Descendants 2? I was blown away. It was better than I had hoped. Sure, it had some faults, but overall I thought it was amazing!**_

 _ **Thank you for all your kind words and favorites. It means so much to me! See you soon!**_


	13. Chapter 13

**_I won't keep you long. Enjoy!_**

* * *

Ben woke up with a start and he sat up.

Melanie was coughing again. She had been coughing more and more the last few days, recently she had been coughing up mucus, which was new and concerning. Mal was holding her in a sitting position, frowning, worry in her eyes.

After Melanie's fit of coughs ended, the child's face crumpled and she started to cry. Mal wrapped the small girl in her arms and rocked a little, stroking her hair and trying to soothe her.

Mal met Ben's eyes, only to look away quickly.

It had been three days since Jay and Ben had argued, three days since Mal told Ben much more than he ever expected her to. She hadn't said much to him since.

Jay hadn't returned nor had anyone seen him. Ben had offered the first night to walk Evie home with Carlos as he knew the way by now. Evie had thanked him for the offer with a kiss on the cheek, but said they could handle it and to stay with Mal and Melanie. Ben didn't truly stop worrying until Evie walked in the next morning with a basket of food, looking exhausted and Carlos stumbled in about ten minutes later with a piece of cloth tied around his leg that Evie immediately started to fuss over. They weren't okay. They never had been, and Ben gathered that they probably never would be all the way okay, but at least they were alive. Everything else might've been a mess, but the fact that they had even woke up to see another day was worth a tiny celebration to Ben.

It was still very early. Evie and Carlos didn't usually come for another few hours.

Mal had soothed Melanie back to sleep, but it didn't appear to Ben that she intended on going back to sleep herself.

"Is she okay?" Ben asked Mal in a whisper.

Without looking up, Mal shook her head. She didn't say anything. She brushed her hand over Melanie's forehead.

"Is there anything I can do?"

Mal responded with a shrug before resting her head on the wall behind her, face tilted to the ceiling, and closing her eyes.

Ben felt helpless.

When Evie and Carlos finally showed up, Melanie was fading in and out of sleep. Ben had taken to sitting at her side as well, trying to help. Melanie had a fever at that point and they had a wet rag placed on her forehead to try and help.

Melanie woke herself up with another fit of coughing and Mal sat her up again, rubbing her back gently. Evie was kneeling in front of the little girl when she stopped coughing.

"Melanie? Can you look at me?"

Melanie slowly pulled her eyes to Evie. Breathing was a huge effort, Melanie was clearly fighting to catch her breath. Mal pulled Melanie against her.

"Mm…" Evie shook her head. "Her eyes aren't focused... and they're glassy…"

"It hurts," Melanie whimpered, closing her eyes. Mal placed a hand on the little girl's forehead.

"What hurts?" Evie questioned.

Melanie touched her chest and then her head.

"I'm sorry," Evie cooed gently.

"Her fever went up from the last time we checked," Mal murmured.

Evie's hand replaced Mal's on Melanie's forehead and her frown deepened. This wasn't just a normal cold. This wasn't good. "Carlos? Can you start going through some of my books? I'll be there in a second… just… see if you can find anything."

Carlos nodded and went to Evie's shelves of books. She had salvaged them from Auradon's trash boats, market stands, and old school books. They were all falling apart, but at least the medical ones had the potential to help them discover what was wrong with Melanie and help them treat it.

"Can't you just… take her to a doctor or something?" Ben asked. Mal had mentioned a nurse. Why had they not thought of that?

"What doctor?" Evie asked darkly.

"Your father pulled the only nurse we ever had off the Isle three years ago." Carlos said bitterly, looking up from the books to send Ben a glare.

"What?" Ben asked, eyes flicking from Carlos to Evie to Mal, eyes wide. "I didn't know that…"

"Melanie and I were her only patients in two and a half years." Mal said very quietly. "That's why they took her away."

"Oh my God,"

Ben's father had done this. He had not only set it up for these kids to all suffer, but he had taken the only nurse the Isle ever had away. How twisted was his father really? None of this was humane. The Isle was a prison. No, it was worse. Prisons weren't supposed to punish innocent people. How could his parents let this happen? How many people had died due to lack of medical attention on this island? None of this was necessary.

How many parents had to watch their children's health deteriorate and not be able to do anything about it? How many children had died?

Evie had moved to the table and the only sounds in the shack were the flipping of pages.

Ben looked back to Mal, who had Melanie in her arms. The little girl had fallen back to sleep. Mal was looking somewhere past Ben at something he couldn't see, lost in thought. She cared so very much for the child in her lap. He couldn't even begin to imagine what she was thinking.

They shouldn't be reduced to doing this, to panicked flipping through books, to holding a child, and that being the best they could do.

Ben sighed and went to the corner where his bag was stashed. He grabbed out his notebook and pen and started writing down Melanie's symptoms. Writing helped him figure things out.

He was halfway through the list when it came to him suddenly. "Pneumonia,"

"What?" Carlos asked.

"Can you find pneumonia in those books? I think she has pneumonia."

Evie immediately flipped back to the index of her book to look. Carlos, however, didn't seem as convinced. "How could you know that?" the younger boy questioned.

"We did something on it in my senior year biology class… and my grandfather…" Ben trailed off.

"Your grandfather what?" demanded Carlos.

Ben hesitated.

"Ben?" Evie said, looking up from the book she was going through.

"Hm?"

She bit her lip. "Is… did your grandfather die from it?"

"…yeah…" Ben replied. It had been several years since he had passed, but he was very fond of the man and his death had been a crushing blow to his family, especially Belle. He had been admitted to the hospital for something unrelated, but contracted the disease there and just been too fragile to fight the illness.

Carlos looked down, embarrassed. "I'm sorry," he mumbled awkwardly.

"It's okay. He was… very old."

A sob came from behind Ben and he turned to see Mal with both of her hands over her face. That is exactly why he didn't want to say anything. He didn't want to upset Mal.

He moved to sit next to her. "It's okay," He promised quietly, thinking of the remote he had tucked into his bag.

Mal didn't look up or move.

"The symptoms line up…" Evie said, sounding troubled as she scanned down the page. "And I don't think there's much we can do for her. We don't have any medication or equipment."

Carlos nodded solemnly. "The best we can do is make her comfortable, keep doing what we can, and hope for the best, I guess."

Ben felt hot and sort of dizzy. He was beyond angry at the sight before him. Medical personnel could have mitigated this before it got this far and these people didn't have access to it. Pneumonia was a very serious illness and if left to go on to long, could be fatal. He knew that firsthand. It was unusual for the disease to reach that point in Auradon, but here on an Isle where people were unhealthy and malnourished by default without medical care, he could see how it could spiral out of control. This was all his father's fault.

Evie rose from the table and crouched at Mal's other side. Evie and Carlos' words had pushed her to full on tears. "We'll do the best we can for her." Evie assured her friend. "But Mal, hey, look at me," Mal took her hands from her face. "Thank you. If something happens and we…l-lose her, it's not your fault, okay?" Evie's tone was gentle and sincere and she was close to tears. "It's not your fault she's sick."

Mal's eyes filled with tears once more and she held the little girl closer to her. Melanie hardly stirred.

Carlos put his head down on the table.

Ben's heart broke for the billionth time since he came to the Isle. It was unacceptable to him that this had to happen. He refused to just sit there and let it happen. He wasn't going to let Melanie die. He couldn't. He stood quickly and crossed the room back to his bag. He stuck his hand in and pulled out the remote with the button on it that would bring the royal limo back to the Isle in an hour. It was for emergencies, he was told.

This was an emergency. Melanie would die without medical care and he couldn't let that happen. He didn't care what anyone back home would have to say about it.

"Carlos, Evie, Mal," he said with a tone that got their attention. "Go home and pack. Grab whatever you need, whatever you can, and meet me back here in an hour. I'll sit with Melanie."

They all looked confused, so ben held up the remote. "As soon as I press this button, a car from Auradon will get sent out to come get all of us. It'll be here an hour from the time I press this button. I'd give you all more time, but the faster we get Melanie to the hospital the better."

"Are you serious?" Carlos asked.

"I'm serious."

"You've had that all this time?" Evie asked, standing. "I thought you had to send a letter or something."

"Yes, but this is for for emergencies and I consider this an emergency. Is an hour enough time?"

The three of them exchanged a glance and then looked back to him.

"That's plenty of time." Carlos said.

"Good."

Mal carefully laid Melanie down on the floor before standing up. Evie squeezed her hand.

"Go, please." Ben said.

The three of them went to the door. Mal was the last one out and she glanced back to Melanie before looking to Ben and taking off towards her home. Ben pressed the button and it beeped to alert him he had done so.

"Don't worry, Melanie." He told the still-slumbering child as he started to put his things in his bag. "You're gonna be okay. I promise."

* * *

 _ **A/N: They're headed to Auradon! What do you think will happen now?**_

 _ **Thanks for reading! Your reviews are very appreciated.**_

 _ **Please let me know your thoughts on this chapter!**_


	14. Chapter 14

_**My apologies everyone, I'm back in college now (in my second year for Teacher Education). I'm sorry this has taken so long. Thanks for your patience!**_

 _ **Enjoy!**_

* * *

Carlos was the first back to the shack. It had taken him twenty minutes at most to go home, grab his things and come back. He had two bags, one was an old backpack and one was a torn garbage bag half-full.

Ben looked up from Melanie just in time to see Carlos drop his things next to the door.

Carlos looked at Ben and smiled a bit- it was the sad one Ben usually got from Carlos and Evie when they could tell the young kind was feeling bad for them. "It's easy to pack when you hardly have anything to begin with,"

Ben frowned.

"Why are you doing this?" Carlos asked suddenly.

"Because… because Melanie needs help and she can't get it here and I can't … just let her suffer."

"No, I get that. But why are you bringing me and Evie too? Why not just Mal and Melanie?"

"I can't be responsible for ripping apart the makeshift family you guys created any more than I already have. I can't just tear Mal and Melanie away from people who love them. It wouldn't be fair to them. Or to you."

Carlos sat on the table then, legs dangling off the floor, leaning back with his arms used as support. "You love them,"

Ben looked back to the feverish little girl on the floor and swallowed hard. He hadn't known these people for very long, but all of them were special. And Mal was the most amazing girl he had ever met. And little Melanie had shoved her way into his heart the moment he first saw her. "I do,"

"Thank you,"

Ben furrowed his eyebrows as he looked back to the younger boy. "For what?"

"For letting us come with you. And… for loving them."

Ben smiled.

Mal came then, red-faced, out of breath, and teary. She dropped her things on the floor at her feet and all but collapsed to the floor on her rear, cradling her left arm to her chest. Carlos hopped off the table and rushed to her side. Ben was there the next second.

"What happened? Are you okay?" Carlos questioned.

"My mom…" Mal said in a hoarse whisper. "She caught me leaving and…" She sniffled hard.

"Did she hit you?" Carlos asked so quietly and in such a tone that it sent shivers down Ben's spine. A tone that was urgent yet casual as if that sentence was spoken often.

Mal shook her head. "I think she broke my arm. She grabbed me and I heard a crack and I can't feel it but it hurts."

Carlos nodded understandingly. "I know how to set breaks, but I won't do it all the way. Maybe when we get to Auradon, they can do it right. Right Ben?"

Ben managed to nod somehow through his anger. His anger at Maleficent for hurting Mal. His anger at his father for putting this screwed up system in place. "Yeah, Carlos's right. They'll fix it for you at the hospital." He promised Mal gently. "It's really, really easy to do that. They take a picture of your arm so they know just how to fix it and then they wrap it up in a cast and you get to pick the color of it and then it's over."

Mal tried to speak, but her words failed, so she just closed her eyes tightly.

By the time Carlos had set Mal's arm, she had cried out in pain twice, Melanie had woken up too weak to support herself in a sitting position, and the hour was almost up.

Mal was sitting against the wall, Melanie's head in her lap. Carlos was leaning against the table, and Ben was pacing.

Ben was starting to worry about Evie. If she wasn't there in time, Ben wasn't sure if the driver would take too kindly to waiting around for her to turn up. He probably wouldn't even want to take them in the first.

Carlos was just about to suggest he run out to look for her when she banged into the door, holding more than Carlos and Mal had brought combined. Ben breathed a sigh of relief.

"Sorry, fabric and clothes." She said sheepishly, by way of apology. She was standing in the doorway, holding the door open with her hip.

"That's okay. We were worried about you is all." He said, trying not to appear outwardly nervous. "Let's go down by where the car dropped me off. That's where they'll come to get us."

Carlos nodded and grabbed his and Mal's bags. Ben put on his bookbag.

"May I carry Melanie?" Ben asked Mal.

Mal nodded and so Ben scooped up the child as gently as he could and held her against his shoulder. Melanie, however, started screaming for her mother the moment she was against his skin and not Mal's. She was writhing in Ben's arms, trying to get away, no matter how weak she was.

The sound was heartbreaking. It really was. The poor dear was frightened and sick. She didn't know what was happening and her fever was probably fuzzing her already confused mind even more. Mal pushed herself to her feet with her good arm and tried to speak to the anxious girl, but her words still wouldn't come. They hadn't been able to since before Carlos set her arm. Her eyes welled with tears.

"It's okay," Ben promised Mal between Melanie's screeches. "It's okay. Touch her. Let her know you're still here."

Mal put her hand on her daughter's back and Melanie's hysteria calmed a little.

"Melanie, Melanie, hey. That's your mama." Ben said softly to the little girl. "She didn't go anywhere. She's right here. We're all going together. We're all going together."

"I want Mama!" Melanie demanded loudly.

"She's right here. She can't hold you right now because her arm is hurt, but she's right here."

Mal rubbed up and down Melanie's back. Mal would've gone around to Ben's back to have Melanie look at her, but it was rather obvious that Melanie's fever was messing with her ability to focus. Even if she would've looked at Mal, it might not have registered.

Melanie stopped panicking and was still against Ben.

Ben took a deep breath and glanced at Mal. "Ready?"

Mal rubbed at her eyes, but nodded. Evie backed out of the doorway and Carlos followed her, Ben and Mal behind.

Ben stopped short when he saw Jay by the shack. He felt Mal tense beside him.

Evie looked meek. "I ran into him on the way back and I-I told him we were leaving..."

"I want to come too." Jay insisted.

"What makes yo-?"

"There's no time to argue, Carlos." Ben said, cutting off the boy. He looked to Jay and spoke in his best kingly tone. "Either you come or you don't, but we have to get Melanie to the hospital. If you upset Mal or Melanie again, I will not hesitate to send you right back here. Am I understood?"

Jay nodded seriously. "Yes,"

"Get a move on then," Ben instructed, nodding forward. Jay took some of Evie and Mal's bags and fell into step beside Evie. Carlos was behind them, and Ben, Mal and Melanie were behind him. Mal seemed a little zoned out, so Ben had taken her good hand with his free hand to guide her forward.

They walked to the spot where Ben had been dropped off at the start of his journey. Not even five minutes later, the royal limo pulled up.

Franklin, the driver, looked very angry, but even more upset once Ben explained he was bringing these five Isle kids back to Auradon with him. But Ben was king, so Franklin couldn't do much more than gripe about it at that moment.

Ben got the six of them all settled in the car, Melanie was sandwiched between him and Mal, Evie was to Mal's other side, followed by Carlos and then Jay. You could fit three people between Jay and Carlos.

"Franklin, please take us to Auradon General Hospital." Ben said. Melanie stirred beside him and Mal still appeared to be out of it. "As quickly as you possibly can."

* * *

 _ **A/N: What do you think will happen next? Thanks for reading!**_


	15. Chapter 15

_**Sorry for the incredibly long delay! I hope this chapter was worth the wait!**_

* * *

Ben was certain he had never been as anxious in his whole life as he was right then.

Melanie kept falling asleep, only to wake up a few minutes later in hysterical tears, which sent her into a coughing fit that she had to be calmed down from each time by Ben. Then she would fall back to sleep, still whimpering. Ben had pulled her into his lap after the fourth time, and she slept longer between her outbursts. He hadn't done it early in fear that removing her from her mother's side would only upset her more.

Evie was taking care of Mal, who had seemed to almost entirely loose touch with her surroundings. She had reached a point where she was totally unresponsive to Melanie's cries. Ben had seen her space out before, but not like this. Usually, Melanie was able to snap her out of it. Ben, Evie, and Carlos had whispered conversations around her and to her, and she didn't even seem to hear them.

"She's stuck in there again." Carlos said after once again trying to elicit a response from Mal. It would probably help if they could be a little louder, but they didn't want to risk waking Melanie.

Ben frowned. "Does this happen often?"

"No," Evie replied. "It's happened before, but it's been a while. I've come to believe it's a stress response. Too much of a stressor and she shuts down entirely. Maybe an anxiety attack of sorts. The fact that she's got a broken arm probably doesn't help either."

Ben looked a bit surprised.

"Hey, you guys send over perfectly good textbooks on your trash boats." Evie responded. "Can't let them go to waste."

"How long does it last?"

Carlos and Evie glanced at each other, and then back to Ben.

"Last one, it took her a few hours to snap out of it." Carlos replied.

"She's very disoriented once she comes to. She, however, will remember most of it." Evie explained. "She can probably hear us, but she's… stuck, for lack of a better word."

Ben nodded.

Soon, Melanie woke up sobbing. Ben shushed her and she fell asleep before she could start coughing again.

He looked out the window. He recognized their surroundings. The were getting close.

Franklin opened the window between the driver's seat and the back. "Ten minutes until we arrive at Auradon General, Your Majesty."

"Thank you, Franklin. Can you call my mother and tell her that I'm alright, but to meet us at the hospital? I think I need her help."

Franklin sighed. "Certainly," And with that, he shut the little door.

"Queen Belle?" Carlos asked, wide-eyed.

Ben smiled. "The one and only,"

* * *

Ten minutes later, the royal limo pulled up in front of Auradon General Hospital's emergency room doors.

"Okay, guys. We're here." Ben told his new friends. "I'll get Melanie. Will you guys get Mal?"

Evie and Carlos nodded. Jay, who had been sitting silently with his arms crossed the entire ride, opened his mouth, but Evie sent him a glare and he closed it again.

Ben thought for a moment before speaking again. "Leave your things in the car, I assure you everything will be fine."

Franklin opened the back door and Ben scooted out first, cradling Melanie to him tightly. She was still burning up and her breathing was labored. It took everything in him not to run madly into the ER and insist someone help her. He had to wait for the other four to get out. They would have no idea where they were supposed to go.

A moment later, Evie stepped out of the limo, holding Mal's hand. "Come on," she coaxed gently. And Mal stepped out next, Carlos right behind. Mal blinked and looked around, confused.

"We're in Auradon, Mal." Carlos said. "So Melanie can get better."

Finally, Jay emerged from the car, and Franklin shut the door. He nodded respectfully at Ben before getting back behind the wheel.

Ben surveyed the four teenagers in front of him. All of them definitely needed to be checked out by a doctor, but Melanie was the priority at the moment. "Follow me," he said, heading through the automatic door.

"Please take a number and take a seat. We'll be right with you," the dark-haired desk clerk said flatly, before taking a sip of coffee. She hadn't even looked up. There was only one other person in the waiting room and usually if a person wasn't delivered at the door with sirens blaring and no one was gushing blood, emergencies could usually wait a few minutes.

"I really hate to be rude, ma'am, but I really don't think that would be in this little girl's best interest." Ben said, almost meekly. It was her job to tell people to do that, he wasn't mad at her. Mid-day on a weekday probably didn't see a lot of activity and she had the right to be bored.

The clerk looked up and her eyes widened at the sight in front of her. "King Ben,"

The patient in the waiting room that had a bandaged arm, looked over to them from the television at that.

"Yes, and this little girl has a very high fever and is having trouble breathing. She keeps falling asleep and then waking up crying a few minutes later. She coughs a lot and she doesn't appear to know where she is. Please, help her."

The clerk, still looking a little starstruck, came over to where Ben was standing in a hurry, ear thermometer in hand. She put her hand on Melanie's forehead and the thermometer in her ear. Within a few seconds, it beeped. "Jesus Christ," The lady murmured, running back to her desk and pressing a button on a walkie-talkie.

"Yes?" Came a scratchy voice.

"Pediatric patient with severe fever and breathing problems." Replied the clerk.

Less than ten seconds later, two people burst through the doors from the ER to the lobby with a gurney and oxygen tank.

Ben set Melanie on it.

"What's her name?" One paramedic asked as he placed an oxygen mask on Melanie's face. The other paramedic was listening to Melanie's heartbeat.

"Melanie," Ben replied.

"Age?"

"Almost five,"

"Are you her father?"

"N-no," Ben replied. "Her mother is behind me, but she's not in a very good state of mind at the moment. Severe anxiety attack."

At that, Evie and Carlos shifted Mal over slightly, so she was visible next to Ben. Mal still looked confused.

"You aren't allowed to come back with her."

"Alright," Ben nodded, feeling ripped apart. She was going to be all alone. For some reason, he felt like he was going to start crying.

"Can I?" Evie blurted. "I'm her aunt. Kind of."

Neither paramedic had taken their attention from Melanie.

"No blood relation. Sorry. We'll keep you all updated."

"Thank you," Ben said.

The paramedics looked up at the five people standing there and their reaction was similar to the clerk's.

"Don't worry, King Ben. She's in good hands here."

All Ben could do was nod. And then Melanie was rolled out of sight.

"Melanie," Mal said suddenly, just after the door slammed shut. Ben, Evie, Carlos, and Jay all turned to look at her. She looked more alert now. "Melanie! MELANIE!"

"Shh, shh, Mal. It's alright…" Evie tried to soothe.

Mal yanked her arms out of Evie and Carlos's grips. "MELANIE! MELANIE!" She made a move to dart towards the doors, but Ben caught her in his arms. Carlos had scurried to Edie's side and she wrapped a comforting arm around him. Jay looked flabbergasted.

"Easy there," Ben murmured. She struggled against him. It was a good thing he was stronger than her.

"LET ME GO!"

"I can't do that, Mal." Ben continued calmly.

"WHERE'D THEY TAKE HER?" Ben held her tighter.

"They took her back so they can start helping her get better. You'll be able to see her soon. She's alright. We would never have let anyone bad take her, Mal."

"I want my daughter!" Mal said, still fighting Ben, but much quieter.

"I know," he replied gently.

"I want Melanie," Mal looked to Ben, making eye contact. The blank, startled look had gone from her eyes. She looked aware now. She looked like she was back. But she also looked scared.

"I know you do. Can you take a deep breath for me?"

Mal did take a deep breath.

"Okay, good. How old are you?"

"Eighteen," she whispered.

"What's your name?"

"Mal,"

"What is my name?"

"Ben,"

"Do you want to sit?"

She nodded.

Ben lowered both of them to sit on the floor, but he never once let go of her. She was quiet then, though her heart was still racing. Mal had relaxed in his arms some, enough that she rested her head on his shoulder, eyes closed.

"Is there anything I can do for you?" Asked the clerk gently, kneeling beside the two of them.

Ben looked up at her. "If it could be arranged to have them all checked over, that would be great. No rush, though."

The clerk nodded and told Carlos, Evie, and Jay to take a seat, all three of them sending glances to where their friends were on the floor. She punched some things into her computer, called the patient with the bandaged arm over and summoned someone to take him back for stitches, then she returned to where Ben and Mal were seated on the floor with a bottle of water.

"I brought some water for her. You sit down here as long as you have to,"

"Thank you very much," Ben glanced at the clerk's badge. "Keisha."

"Of course," Keisha smiled. She returned to her desk, took a sip of coffee, and started typing on her computer again.

Ben was able to get Mal to take a sip of water. Her head had returned to his shoulder almost immediately after.

A few moments later, the mechanical whirring of the automatic door brought Ben's attention to the door. His mother came in and stopped short at the sight in front of him.

"Ben, honey, what happened?"

He smiled a bit. "I've made some new friends."

* * *

 ** _A/N: Well, they've made it to Auradon! I hope you don't think this story is going to be over any time soon. I've got big plans and at least 3 different ways this could go. Let me know your thoughts and predictions in the reviews! See you soon (I hope!)_**


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